Chicken Breasts with Creamy Sizzled Leak and Mushroom Sauce, featuring Broccoli

It’s Saturday again, which is arguably the best day of the week. It’s the only day of the week, in fact, that you go to sleep the night before knowing you won’t work the next day and go to sleep knowing you won’t work again the next. Every other day of the week you go to bed with work obligations looming overhead. Don’t get me wrong, I love my day job but it is still work after all.

As I’m writing this, I am doing so knowing well that I should instead be working on my research proposal for my masters program. I’m researching, or rather should be, about the effect of graduation rates of students of color who also have or have had a teacher of color. I hypothesize that indeed there is a correlation between higher graduation rates among black students who also have or have had a black teacher. It’s fascinating stuff but right now all I want to do is think about cooking, which is both a passion and now a perfectly suitable way to procrastinate.

My fridge is still full of produce from the Thanksgiving holiday and everything in it is teetering the fine line between fresh and beginning to wilt. I have some leeks that are slightly soft but still completely edible, potatoes that will certainly be too far gone by mid next week if I don’t use them immediately, goose fat, broccoli which I have no idea when I bought or if I even bought it but for now looks fresh, a package of dry porcini mushrooms that I forgot to use the other day, a few lemons, and an embarrassing amount of unused fresh herbs because I overestimated how many I would actually need for Thanksgiving. Oh, there is also the chicken I thawed out yesterday but didn’t end up making because I decided I was too tired and pizza sounded easier. This all to say it was the perfect hodgepodge of things to throw together today for a delicious late lunch.

Chicken Breasts with Creamy Leak and Mushroom Sauce, featuring Broccoli (serves 2 - 4)

Ingredients:
1 - 2 heads of broccoli, steamed
-you could easily use frozen broccoli or swap in asparagus or Brussel sprouts
2 chicken breasts, split and pounded flat
1/2 of a lemon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Pepper
4 tablespoons butter
2 leeks, the white parts chopped fine
0.5oz dry porcini mushrooms (or some other type of dry mushroom you might have)
-alternatively you could use up to 8oz of sliced fresh mushrooms
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped
5 small sage leaves, chopped
1/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 cup white wine or dry vermouth
1 cup heavy cream

Instructions:
1. Steam the broccoli with your preferred method. Cook until the stems can be pierced with a fork and the crowns are soft but not mushy - you don’t want them falling apart later in the sauce. Set aside when finished.

2. Split the chicken breasts in half. Place your hand on top of it to apply pressure and use a sharp knife to cut through the breast, keeping as center a line as possible as you cut through. Between two sheets of waxed or parchment paper, pound the chicken breasts to 1/4 in thick. Squeeze the halved lemon on all over the chicken and sprinkle on the salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. In a skillet, heat the 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. When the butter has melted and foamed, add the leeks and cook slowly for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and then add the herbs and combine.

4. To the skillet add the chicken breasts over the leeks and mushrooms, cover and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. At first the chicken will sear and the leeks will begin to crisp and brown - that’s what you want. Flip the chicken, cover, and cook for another 5 minutes. At this point the chicken will begin releasing liquid into the pan. Check to see if chicken is done; when pierced the juice will run clear and when cut at the thickest part, it will be completely white. Cover and cook for an additional 2 minutes if it’s not quite done. When finished, remove chicken to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

5. Add the chicken or vegetable stock to the skillet along with the wine or vermouth. Boil down over medium high heat for a few minutes to burn off the alcohol and reduce a bit, 3 - 5 minutes. Add the heavy cream and boil for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened. Check sauce for season. Then, Gently fold in the broccoli florets. Return the chicken back to the skillet along with any of the accumulated juices. Bring to the simmer, cover, and cook an additional 2 minutes over low to moderate heat to heat everything through. Serve immediately.

Roasted Gold Potatoes with Parsley

Ingredients:
4 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons of duck fat, goose fat, or olive oil
Small bunch of parsley, chopped fine
Salt and Pepper

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 420 degrees F. In a baking dish large enough to hold all the potatoes, rub a garlic clove all over the bottom. Lightly grease the dish using goose/duck fat, olive oil, or butter. Set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine the diced potatoes, fat or oil, and the chopped parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Transfer potatoes to the baking dish and roast on the middle rack of the oven for 40 minutes, giving them a stir twice during their cooking. Serve with the chicken.