Break from work = new recipes

Dinner tonight was pan seared chicken breasts with tarragon cream sauce, with honey balsamic sweet potato mash and green beans. The chicken recipe makes enough for 4, but I just made the full sauce and just let some go to waste. This was a lot of food and I think it would not only cook fast, but would be better with chicken breast halves. (or even tenders). It's a keeper though, as the sauce was really good!

Chicken:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

salt and pepper

1 Tbsp veg. oil

Sauce:

1 Tbsp veg. oil

1 shallot, minced (side note, I burned the heck out of this and it was all I had, so I scraped it out and used green onion)

salt

3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup white wine or vermouth

4 Tbsp heavy cream (or 3 Tbsp butter)

*I used the cream because I had some and I wanted a creamier sauce)

1 tsp dried tarragon

Pound chicken so it's not so thick (again, the halved pieces would save time). Spread flour in shallow dish. Pat chicken dry with paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour, shaking off excess. Heat oil in 12 inch skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Add chicken and cook until golden brown on each side (about 10 min). Transfer to oven safe plate and place in a 200 degree oven to keep warm.

For the sauce:

Add oil to skillet and return to medium high heat. Add shallot and 1/4 tsp salt and cook until softened. I love shallots, but my experience in cooking them is the same-the burn FAST...so be careful! Stir in broth and wine, scraping up any browned bits and simmer until reduced. Reduce to low heat. Stir in cream slowly. Off the heat, stir in tarragon. Spoon sauce over chicken before serving.

Note: With pan searing, you can't use a non-stick skillet to get to same effect, so use a real one. Just watch the oil closely and be careful not to burn what you are cooking.

Honey Balsamic Sweet Potato Mash

*taken from Williams Sonoma Bride and Groom cookbook

4 sweet potatoes

3 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 Tbsp honey

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Prick the sweet potatoes in a few places with a fork. Bake on prepared sheet until very tender, about an hour. Set the sweet potatoes aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, halve them lengthwise and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Mash with a potato masher. Stir in remaining ingredients. Serve immediately.

These were so good! I don't really like sweet potato casserole, but I like these because they have a more rustic texture, rather than the whipped potatoes you get in a souffle or casserole. We'll make these again for sure!