Recipe Time: Garlicky Chicken with Spinach
The other day, I whined about the lack of good recipes for boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I now have a couple of new recipes to try, thanks to Kathleen’s Yogurt-Baked Chicken and Allan’s Deep-Dish Pizza Casserole (in which I’ll be replacing the ground round with chopped chicken breasts cooked on the indoor grill).
But last night, I had some produce in the fridge that was on its last legs, along with still more chicken, so I decided to come up with a recipe of my own. Hubby liked it so much he proclaimed it a “keeper,” and after running it through the Weight Watcher’s “Point Tracker”, which proclaimed it suitably low in calories and fat, I agree with Hubby: it’s good.
So, here it is:
Kate’s Garlicky Chicken with Spinach
Ingredients:
Olive oil-flavored cooking spray
Salt & Pepper
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1 bunch fresh spinach, stems trimmed
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
10 grape (or cherry) tomatoes, halved length-wise
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (or 1 T. dried)
Preparation
1. Wash spinach thoroughly in repeated changes of cool water. Set aside to drain on paper-towel lined plate.
2. Pound chicken between sheets of waxed paper until 1/4 inch thick.
3. Spray large skillet with cooking spray until well-coated. Heat over medium-high heat 1 minute. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to skillet. Sear on both sides, then saute until brown and cooked through, turning once, about 3 minutes each side. Remove chicken to plate and keep warm, leaving skillet on heat.
4. Add lemon juice and garlic to skillet, stirring frequently and scraping up any browned bits. Cook until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.
5. Add chicken broth and tomatoes, boiling until reduced by half, about 10 minutes.
6. Add spinach and stir, cooking until spinach is wilted. Stir in chopped basil.
7. Return chicken to skillet. Cover and cook 1 minute to re-heat chicken. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with tossed green salad and a whole-wheat dinner roll.
You can come up with lots of variations for chicken breasts if you adapt recipes intended for whole chickens or other parts. For example, this recipe turned out very well for me simply by butterflying the breasts to stuff them with rosemary and lemon slices. Served with the fennel roasted veggies and olive oil smashed potatoes (linked at the bottom of the page), it’s a generally “good-for-you” meal – assuming you don’t mind the calories from the olive oil.
Food Network has lots of good recipes, better (in my opinion) than places like AllRecipes.com.