Another Easy Date Night Dinner!


 Linda    21 Apr : 23:26
 None    Menu

lemon ch sauce start.jpg

Lemon and Cream Chicken with Spinach

I've been in a rut lately – work hours have been changing almost daily – and when you don't even know WHEN you can cook, well, it's easy to rely on some lazy standards. [As a side note, I've discovered that sharp cheddar, banana peppers, and bacon make an excellent combo for quesadillas!] When some time finally presented itself a touch of easy elegance was in order! How does Lemon Butter Chicken sound? In addition to the obvious ingredients it also has cream, parmesan, spinach... Hungry yet?
20plate2
You use thighs, which practically guarantees that the meat will be flavorful as well as moist. Simply season and sear. It seemed like an awful lot of smoked paprika (2 Tbsp), but in the end that flavor wasn't noticeable (unless you were tasting for it?)... Then you saute some garlic, add your liquids and cheese – honestly, there's very little effort involved!
20start
So now you get to the spinach – this is my one quandary regarding this recipe. IMHO there's too much of it to “pretty up” the sauce, and not enough to serve it as the vegetable? 20sauce Use your own judgment. What I ended up doing was chopping a few more handfuls of spinach and quickly wilting it in the remaining sauce (you might notice the slightly different shades of green? That's why wink )
20oven
I served ”smashed potatoes” thinking that the simple flavors and crisp texture would be a great complement – it was. I boiled the potatoes the night before and yes, gently “smashed” them! I used my had and a towel so I didn't have as much texture as Ree, but her technique is as simple as it gets.
20start
They got pulled out of the fridge as I started the chicken and went into the oven at the same time, leaving the potatoes in a touch longer while I plated the rest.
20done
Yet I think my plate could have used a bit more color – basic stewed tomatoes, yellow squash, a pretty salad (simply cucumber and tomato with a light lemon vinaigrette would be excellent)... or white rice with a bit of pimento tossed in instead of the potato? Keep the flavors simple and let the lemon butter sauce be the star – it deserves it! Some good bread to mop your plate with wouldn't hurt!
20plate3
Simple measurements and prep, do ahead stuff, no-fail timing... Trust me, you can do this!


printer friendly





This news item is from cookingskewl.com
https://cookingskewl.com/news.php?extend.867