Chicken Recipes: Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Pear, Bell Pepper, and Cilantro Salsa

While browsing the Internet to find a new chicken recipe among the ten zillion recipes that are out there, I came across this delicious creation featured on Epicurious.com. With a really good homemade pear salsa and a fabulous pan sauce made with the pan drippings and pear nectar, “Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Pear, Bell Pepper, and Cilantro Salsa” is, in one word, “fantastic!”

Ingredients for the Salsa:

• 2 Anjou or Bosc pears (about 1¼ pounds total), peeled, cored, and cut into ½-inch cubes
• 1 cup finely diced red bell pepper, seeded (about 1 large pepper)
• ½ cup finely chopped red onion
• ¼ cup finely chopped jalapeño chilies, seeded (about 2 medium-size chilies)
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

Directions for the Salsa:

• In a medium bowl, mix together all of the ingredients except the cilantro.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Let the salsa stand at room temperature for 1 hour; then stir in the cilantro.

Ingredients for the Chicken:

• 3 skinless boneless chicken breast halves (about 1½ pounds total), halved horizontally
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons butter (¼ stick), divided
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• ¾ cup low-salt chicken broth
• ¾ cup pear nectar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Directions for the Chicken:

• Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
• Place the flour in a wide, shallow bowl; then dredge the chicken in the flour, shaking off the excess. Place the chicken pieces on a baking sheet or large plate.
• Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large heavy skillet over high heat.
• Add 3 chicken breast pieces to the skillet and fry until nicely browned and cooked through (about 3 minutes per side). Transfer the chicken to a large plate.
• Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to skillet and cook the remaining chicken breast pieces. Transfer the chicken to the plate and tent the chicken with foil to keep it warm while preparing the pan sauce.
• To prepare the sauce, add the chicken broth to the skillet and bring it to a boil. Make sure to scrape up the browned bits, which add so much flavor to the sauce.
• Stir in the pear nectar, mustard, and lemon juice. Boil the mixture until thick enough to coat a spoon (about 4 minutes).
• Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve this dish, which provides six servings, place one chicken breast piece on a dinner plate; then spoon the pan sauce over the chicken. Divide the pear salsa among the six servings as an accompaniment to the chicken. Yum!

 

Chicken Recipes: Chicken Fried Chicken

I found an easy, great tasting fried chicken recipe on the AllRecipes.com Website that I’d like to share with you. It’s called “Chicken Fried Chicken” and it was submitted by “CASSJW.”

Ingredients List:

• 30 saltine crackers
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons dry potato flakes
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I used wings, legs, and thighs as well.)

Directions:

• Place the crackers in a large resealable plastic bag, seal the bag, and the crush crackers until they are reduced to a coarse crumb.
• Add the flour, potato flakes, seasoned salt, and pepper to the bag and mix well.
• Beat the egg in a shallow dish or bowl, and heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
• One by one, dredge the chicken pieces in the beaten egg; then place the chicken pieces in the bag containing the crumb mixture. Seal the bag and shake to coat the pieces.
• Reduce the heat to medium, and cook the coated chicken in the skillet for 15 to 20 minutes, turning frequently until golden brown and the juices run clear.

Note: I doubled the recipe and used wings, legs, and thighs in addition to the breasts (I used only 4 boneless breasts rather than 6).

What I liked about this recipe was that it wasn’t overly seasoned, and it provided the skinless chicken pieces with a wonderful crunchy coating that almost made it seem as though the skin had been left on the chicken. I confess that I did fry up a few legs and wings with the skin, just as a comparison, but I must say that the skinless pieces were just as tasty (and I know, more healthful) as the pieces with the skin. Enjoy!

 

Chicken Recipes: Honey Fried Chicken

Five days of leftover Thanksgiving turkey—in sandwiches, casseroles, and soups—it’s about all I can handle. Although I really like turkey on the day it’s roasted, I really get tired of it in a hurry. Some people tell me, “You can eat chicken seven days a week and never get bored with it, why not turkey? What’s the difference?” Well, I can tell the difference, and for me, the taste of turkey just can’t compare with that of chicken. With that said, I’m happy to be getting back to preparing one of my favorite foods using my tried and true recipes, as well as new recipes that I hope I’ll be able to include among my favorites. The following chicken recipe is one of those new ones that I’ll definitely be adding to my list of favorites.

“Honey Fried Chicken,” a recipe I found on the AllRecipes.com Website, is one of the best fried chicken recipes I’ve ever tasted—so simple to make and so good. The person submitting the recipe said that it was one that he or she tried to copy from a recipe served at a New England restaurant. (I’d sure like to know the name of the restaurant, since I travel to New England at least once a year.)

Honey Fried Chicken

Ingredients List:

• 1 whole chicken (about 4 lbs.), cut into pieces (I used precut chicken pieces)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 packet of chicken bouillon granules
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 quart vegetable oil (for frying—I used a bit less because the oil should be no deeper than one inch in the pan, so apparently, my pan must have been smaller than what was used by the creator of the recipe).

Instructions:

• Sprinkle salt and pepper on the chicken pieces.
• After the chicken is seasoned, coat the pieces with the honey
• Stir together the garlic powder, chicken bouillon granules, and the flour in a shallow dish or bowl.
• Dredge the honey-coated chicken pieces in flour mixture until the pieces are completely coated.
• Add vegetable oil to a depth of one inch in a large heavy skillet. Heat the oil on the stovetop using a medium-high heat setting.
• Fry the chicken for at least five minutes per side or until the meat is no longer pink and the juices run clear.

Enjoy!