Garlic Lemon Herb Chicken

This recipe had been done again and again, but it’s a great 30-minute meal that simple and tastes fantastic!

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts;
• 1/2 shallot diced into small pieces;
• 3-4 Garlic cloves (I love garlic, so however much you want here is great);
• Basil and parsley shopped into small fragments. Again, your discretion for how much herb flavor your looking for. I found that 1/4 cup of the combined chopped herbs is plenty.
• Enough flour to cover the chicken with (approx. 1/4 cup);
• 4 tablespoons of butter;
• 1 large lemon, or 2 small lemons;
• 1/2 cup of chicken stock;
• kosher salt and black pepper.

1. Start off by butterflying the chicken breast. This is where you cut the breast in half working from right to left. So it kind of looks like a butterfly. This is a good technique to cook chicken faster.
2. Season the chicken with kosher salt and pepper.
3. Lightly coat the chicken with flour and shake off the excess.
4. Heat olive oil on med-high heat in a cast-iron skillet until it just starts to smoke.
5. Place chicken in the skillet– it should sizzle immediately upon touching the surface.
6. Flip the chicken once the bottom has a golden brown crust, about 5-8 minutes.
7. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter into pan, along with half of your lemon juice. Place the left over rinds in the skillet to char with the chicken.
8. add about half of the shallots in the skillet and season herbs on top of the chicken.
9. After another 5-8 minutes, check bottom of chicken for the crust and remove from the skillet. Turn heat to low.
10. OPTIONAL: throw a handful of spinach into the pan for a quick sauté that you can add on as a garnish at the end. Once done, remove and set aside.
11. Melt remaining butter and shallots in skillet, add garlic, and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add remaining herbs, and lemon juice (toss those rinds out).
12. Add chicken stock and a spoonful of flour (for thickening).
13. Stir well until it is all blended and bubbling.
14. Take sauce off of heat and pour over chicken.
15. Let rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

I love this recipe because it’s so quick and easy to make, cheap ingredients, and tastes amazing. Serve it over pasta, brown or white rice, vegetables, or mashed potatoes!

Paired nicely with a 2011 Brittan Vineyards Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR.

Enjoy!!