Friday, October 31, 2008

Parmesan Crusted Chicken & Ginger-Honey Carrots

Just typing that subject headline made me hungry again. :-). I wish I had enough leftovers from this meal to have had it more than once, that's for sure. Although if I do it again, I think I might add just a bit of a kick to the chicken. Maybe a teeny bit of cayenne pepper, just to take it up a notch.

The Parmesan Crusted Chicken Piccata was a little bit of work (and don't get me started on how one of my dogs stole two pieces after I was done cooking it. If he was going to pick a meal to do that to, choose one that isn't that much work, for Pete's sake).

Now, according to Rachael Ray, this is a 30-minute meal. Uh, not exactly. It took me about 45 minutes. And I needed more like 3 cups of finely grated Parmesan (I used fresh, BTW) not, 1 1/4 cups. I did the Rachael trick for pounding the breasts thin--put them between two pieces of wax paper and whack the heck out of them with a heavy pan (I had a small cast iron pan for the task). MUCH faster than a meat pounder. So here's the recipe, if you want to try it. It was very yummy. :-)

I served it with Carrots with Ginger-Honey Glaze, which were insanely easy and VERY good. I'm not a big fan of carrots in their natural state. You know, just steamed. I like them sweetened up. Usually I cook them with butter, a bit of brown sugar, some cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. But this was a nice change.

Carrots with Ginger-Honey Glaze

1 pound baby carrots
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped and peeled fresh ginger (and it makes a difference, so buy this and use it)
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Cook carrots until just tender, either in the microwave or in boiling water. Drain. In a large saucepan, melt the butter, then add the honey, fresh ginger and ground ginger. Stir in carrots. Cook for a couple of minutes over medium heat, until the glaze coats the carrots. Serve.

I served this with Crisp Garlic Oven Fries, a recipe I found over on SparkPeople. My husband really liked these, so did the kids. I thought they were pretty good, but I wasn't as raving about them as the rest of the family. Maybe it was just me. Or my mood that day. :-)

And yes, those are new plates in the photo. I was so tired of the ones I had bought like 15 years ago that I went and bought the new Food Network ones they have at Kohls. They're pretty cool, and nice and white. So far, I really like them--and love how deep the bowls are. Now to get the rest of the accessory pieces :-)

Shirley

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:59 AM

    A little trick for the chicken--if a recipe calls for pounding the chicken breasts (and sometimes even when it doesn't), I cut the chicken breast in half horizontally. It takes a sharp knife and a little practice (it's easier if the breasts are very slightly frozen still). It makes the chicken more delicate to eat, it cooks faster, and you honestly don't even realize you're only eating half a breast so the chicken goes further!

    Bon Appetit!
    Peg

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peg,

    I've done that too--I did it with the Chicken Cordon Bleu I ran a couple weeks ago. It worked out really well for that one. this time I really did want the thin fillets so they'd crust up well. Just reading this recipe again makes me want it, LOL.

    Shirley

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