Father's Day Fowl and Fin!
Jun. 23, 2009 10:40 am
Updated: Jun. 26, 2009 3:55 pm
I wanted to make Father's Day extra special for my boyfriend this year, since it would be his first. The problem was I didn't know where to begin planning such a special day. My boyfriend, Mike, is the kind of guy you can never really get the full picture of how much, or even how little he is enjoying... well, anything. It's really rather frustrating for someone like me who could carry on all day about a traffic free ride into work.
I decided to make it easy on myself and let him pick what he wanted. My motivation was two fold: not only would I know what to plan for but I would finally discover one thing he really loves! I know I'm a pretty decent cook. I can follow a recipe and I've never made anything completely inedible, but to be honest when I asked Mike what he wanted to eat for Father's Day I was really expecting him to say the name of some local restaurant, I'd call and make reservations and that would be that. He knocked me on my rear when he announced that he wanted me to make my Chicken Scallopini! My reaction was really? Yes, really.
On Sunday morning we woke up early, went to the Farmers Market, read the paper, took a nap and around noon we start getting ready to visit my mother whose house I was going to be cooking at. I started packing all my ingredients leaving the chicken in the fridge for the last moment when we were walking out so it didn't sit unrefrigerated for too long. I packed the swimming clothes, the diaper bag, my purse and we headed out the door. My mother lives ten miles away and we were just down the street when I suddenly realized I forgotten the chicken. It was a good thing I was on the clover leaf exit because I went up the off ramp and right back down the on ramp to go back home to get it. Mike laughed at me and that night before we went to bed he said, "Remember when you forgot the chicken and we had to come all the way back home to get it?" "Don't remind me" I said, laughing. He also told me again and again how much he loved my dish and that it's his favorite. What a treat for me on Father's Day!
We had so much fun taking our son swimming for the first time and Ethan loved it. He's like a little fish and takes right to the water and it's maybe a little bit scary for me because he has no fear of anything. I need to get that kid into swimming lessons as soon as possible I guess! And maybe someday he'll win 9 gold medals! A mom can dream right? :)
My Chicken Scallopini was made with fresh cream from a local farm and it really made all the difference in my dish I think. I usually make it with regular cream from and it tastes great that way tooI have the recipe pending for allrecipes but who knows when it'll actually make it. Until then I'll just blog it and hope that you try it and love it as much as I found out my boyfriend does! I make this recipe frequently and I have a bad habbit of not measuring anything. Some amounts are approximate. Fair warning! :)
Chicken Scallopini
- 4 large chicken breasts pounded to 1/2 inch thickness, my 4 chicken breasts wighted almost 3 lbs
- enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and I ALWAYS use canola oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 large onion, sliced as thin as you like them
- 1/2 cup white wine, I used a Sauvignon Blanc but maybe a chardonnay would be better. I'm no sommiler, youmay know better :)
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 pint of heavy cream
- garlic powder to your liking (I used a whole tablespoon probably but that might be too much for some people)
- 1/2 teaspoon yellow food coloring, I'll explain...
- a little bit of flour if your impatient like me and don't like to wait for it to reduce. Mine never tastes like paste if I use flour, I know some people a totally against using flour for that reason.
you'll also need:
about 2 long-ish sheets of aluminum foil
and a small baking dish if you don't like dripings in your oven
OK
- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F.
- After you've pounded your chicken breasts liberally cover both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat your oil in a large skillet and place chicken breasts in hot oil. You want the chicken golden and a little bit crispy on each side.
- When the chicken is done, wrap in the foil, place in baking dish and put in the oven until your sauce is done. You might need to take the skillet off the heat to keep the bits on the bottom from burning while you do this.
- Add the onions to the skillet and push them around to gather some of the bits. They should take on some good color at this point.
- Deglaze the pan with the white wine to get the rest of the bits up. Push the onions around a bit more.
- Add the chicken stock and let the mixture reduce for 10-15 minutes.
- Add the heavy cream and garlic powder and whisk until it's all one color.
- Add your food coloring if you like. If you don't it'll come out greyish like a cloudy day and it's just not very pretty or inspiring. If you don't like using food coloring you could add saffron or tumeric, I just don't know how that would affect the flavor. If you try it and it's great let me know!
- Now you can make your choice, add flour or no. Either way the consistancy needs to be so it coats the back of a spoon. Wisk continuously.
- Remove your chicken from the oven and place on a serving platter. Pour the onion cream sauce over the top, serve and enjoy!
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