21st birthday dinner
OK, I am old but I am not THAT old! This isn't an 18th-century recipie, but it is the meal my brother made for me on my 21st birthday...its was delicious and I have never forgotten it!
Chicken Compliqué
De-bone 8 chicken breasts, skin and pound them to 1/4 inch thickness (like a Wienerschitzel) using a meat mallet. In a glass or ceramic bowl, marinate the breasts in a bit of sherry and lemon juice for 2-3 hours. A half-hour before serving, melt 2/3 stick butter in large frying pan. Drain the meat, saving the marinade. After the butter has foamed up, cook each breast one by one, turning once and salting each side lightly. Remove chicken to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. After the chicken has been cooked, sauté a pound of quartered chestnut-mushrooms in the butter. Then add the marinade to the butter, as well as any juices from the plate of cooked breasts. Reduce the marinade, to concentrate the flavors. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Turn down the heat and add a cup of cream. Ever stirring, gently warm and thicken the sauce slightly. Taste and season again if need be. Return the chicken breasts to the pan. When warmed through, remove chicken and mushrooms to a serving dish, spoon some sauce over breasts and sprinkle with chopped parsley to garnish. Pass the rest of the sauce in a separate bowl.Here is Chicken Compliqué Nemanichiana, a Chicago variation on the theme...
Rice “au bon frère"
Sauté a few chopped mushrooms (for flavour) and chopped shallots in butter. Then add one large sweet red pepper, not too finely chopped, cooking it just to the point where the first crunch is gone. Do not over cook, as there is still have a long way to go! Then add 1 cup of short grained white rice and cook, stirring gently, until it becomes transparent. Add 2 and 1/2 cups liquid (1 part white wine, 2 parts chicken stock) and cook, covered, for ca. 45 minutes till tender.
Serve these dishes together with a green salad with a tart vinaigrette. Or a cold asparagus salad in a vinaigrette.
Serve with a nice, dry white wine, the same one you used for the rice.
Here Andres passes the Rice au Bon Frere...looks like a big glass of RED wine to me! Shocking!
Bon appetit
Last update: Saturday, January 13, 2007