May
26, 2010
Dear Friends,
There's a recipe within a recipe here that will be great to have
handy. Instant sweet-tart pan sauce lies in taking two minutes to
boil down orange juice until it's a syrup. Now, once you've got it,
it can go over rosemary chicken breasts as in this quick supper
idea, or over strawberries and all the rest of the summer fruits
coming into season over the next couple of months. As to this dish,
when heat is taking over, put the chicken and sauce on a bed of
lettuces for a one-dish supper.
Rosemary-Scented
Chicken Breasts with Caramelized Orange Sauce
Serves 4
- Good tasting extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 boneless and skinless chicken
breasts (organic if possible)
- Salt and freshly ground black
pepper
- 2-inch branch of fresh rosemary
- 10 to 12 olives (oil cured,
Sicilian, or Kalamata)
- 1 large blood orange, or navel
orange, peeled and the flesh cut into small chunks
- 2 large garlic cloves, thinly
sliced
- 1/4 to 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter
1. Lightly film a 12-inch straight-sided sauté pan with the olive
oil. Heat it over high heat until oil shimmers slightly. Slip the
chicken breasts into the pan, sprinkling them with salt and pepper.
Lightly brown them on both sides, taking only about 30 seconds per
side.
2. Immediately reduce the heat to medium low, add the olives,
rosemary, orange pulp, garlic and 1/4 cup of the orange juice. Make
sure the liquid is barely bubbling.
3. Cover the pan and cook 3 minutes; turn the chicken, check the
sauce for burning (add a few tablespoons of orange juice if needed),
and cook another 4 minutes, or until the chicken is firm, but not
springy, when pressed. Remove the chicken to a serving platter and
keep it warm.
4. Make the sauce by adding another 1/4 to 1/3 cup orange juice
to the pan and boiling it down to a syrup while you scrape up any
brown bits and glaze from the bottom of the pan. A flat sided wooden
spatula is invaluable for this. Swirl the butter into the pan just
to blend it in. Scrape the caramelized syrup over the chicken and
serve hot.
LYNNE'S
TIPS
• There are two keys to moist and succulent chicken breasts: one
is slow, gentle cooking to retain much of the natural moisture in
the cells of the meat. You want to do a quick sear over high heat
for a little browning, then gently cook the breasts over medium-low
heat. The other trick is brining. Figure 45 minutes to two hours in
the refrigerator in a brine of 1/4 cup kosher salt to 1 quart very
cold water (a little sugar, chile and other flavorings could be
added to the brine).
• Finishing simple pan sauces by swirling in a tablespoon or two
of cold unsalted butter (remove the pan from the heat first)
enriches the sauce, smoothes out any roughness and thickens the
sauce slightly. Besides, that small amount of butter gives you
incomparable flavor.
THOUGHTS
FROM LYNNE
I was doing a talk recently when someone in the audience asked me
if there is a piece of cooking equipment I can't live without. Now,
although I have the collector's gene, gadgets designed to do just
one thing drive me around the bend — a waste of money and space.
Give me some basic gear and I am happy. But the question started
me thinking about what I use every day, which led me to the kitchen
sink. What is always in your sink reveals what you use all the time.
You've heard it before, but in this season of weddings and
outfitting new cooks, maybe it bears repeating.
Whenever I cook in a pan, I have a wooden
spatula in my hand. The wide flat bottom is infinitely more
efficient that the little tip of a spoon. Think about it: whenever
you want to stir up thickening liquid from a pot's bottom, or scrape
out a pan, the wide flat base of the spatula does it in a few
sweeps. It slips easily under foods; for instance, to loosen a piece
of sautéing fish without breaking it. I can't count how many pan
sauces I've saved from burning because that wide base keeps
ingredients moving and boiling down at the same time. At about
$6.00, I can replace those spatulas as needed.
My big
stainless steel colander is constantly in the sink. With its
14-inch diameter, I can rinse pounds of produce and toss the water
away from generous helpings of pasta and greens. Little colanders
literally cramp your style. They have no place in the kitchen.
Restaurant supply stores are great places to find bargains in
colanders. Here's how to judge if it's big enough: if you could
rinse a baby in the colander, the size is right.
All-Clad's
12-inch sauté pan is where I pan-grill, stew, flash-cook pasta
sauces and roast everything, since the handle is heat proof so the
pan goes into the oven without a concern. It saved me from investing
in a roasting pan for years. One of my colleagues accuses me of
traveling with my 12-inch All-Clad pan. How did she know?
Have a great week,
Lynne
Copyright 2010, Lynne Rossetto Kasper.
All Rights
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