Lemon Sauce Chicken & Mushroom Rissoto

Lemony Sauced Chicken Breasts
serves 4, prep 10 min, cook 15 min
* 2 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts
* 1 tbsp butter
* 1 tbsp oil
* salt and pepper
* 2 tbsp lemon juice
* 2 tbsp dry white wine
* 1/2 cup chicken broth
1. Trim all visible fat from the chicken breasts.
2. Place one breast in a large zip-top plastic blag and use a flat mallet or
heavy bottle to pound it to an even thinness, the breast should be fairly large
and flat.
3. Remove the breast from the bag and cut into two equally sized portions.
Repeat with the other breast so you have four chicken breast paillards.
4. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat, then when hot, add the butter and
oil.
5. Once butter is melted, season chicken with salt and pepper then place in the
pan. Cook undisturbed until chicken has turned white about halfway up on the
sides, about 5 minutes.
6. Flip chicken with tongs and finish cooking, about 5 more minutes. Remove
chicken to a serving plate and keep warm in an oven or under foil.
7. Add lemon juice and white wine to the pan, scraping up all of the browned
bits in the bottom of the pan. Add chicken broth and boil until reduced by
about half and sauce is slightly thick.
8. Serve chicken drizzled with about 1 to 2 tbsp of sauce.
The base of this dish is a very, very basic mushroom risotto. There is almost
no prep work required (tell me you have an egg slicer for slicing your
mushrooms) and the stirring can be done while working on your other dishes.
Just get it started and then it cooks itself while you make the chicken and pan
sauce.
Basic Mushroom Risotto
serves 6, prep 10 min, cook 20 min
* 5 cups chicken broth
* 1 tbsp oil
* 1 tbsp butter
* 8 oz fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced or chopped
* 1 cup arborio or long grain rice
* 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
* salt and pepper
* truffle oil or truffle salt (optional)
1. Boil chicken broth then turn down to a simmer.
2. Heat a pan to medium and add oil and butter. Once butter is melted add
mushrooms and saute until beginning to brown.
3. When mushrooms are starting to turn golden, add rice and stir. Toast rice,
stirring, until it turns golden.
4. Ladle one cup of hot broth into rice and mushrooms and stir to combine. You
do not have to stir constantly but just come back to it as you work on your
dishes and give it a good stir every now and then.
5. When most of the liquid is absorbed and the pan is beginning to get dry,
stir in another cup of liquid. Continue stirring in hot liquid as it is
absorbed until rice is tender and creamy.
6. When rice is done, remove from the heat and stir in parmesan cheese and salt
and pepper to taste.
7. Drizzle individual servings with a small amount of truffle oil of a pinch of
truffle salt if desired.
Steamed frozen vegetables are my favorite side. They are healthy, convenient,
and take very little time and effort to make. Simply place frozen vegetables
in a lidded casserole and microwave them for five to seven minutes while the
table is being set. To play off the lemon in the pan sauce I added a little
melted butter, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a sprinkle of salt. To serve, I
plated a spoonful of risotto, drizzled it lightly with truffle oil, placed a
chicken paillard on top, drizzled it with pan sauce, set a spoonful of broccoli
on the side and then grated lemon zest over all of it. I chopped a few
tablespoons of fresh parsley and sprinkled a bit over the whole dish.