Its a chilly late spring night and I just didn’t feel like salad. When its cold and rainy, suddenly thick sauces and hearty stews come to mind. Or hot soup, even. I wanted something warm and filling and easy to make and within the limited ingredients in my fridge.
If you ever need one solitary chicken breast to stretch into multiple meals or feed multiple people, this is the way to go. The sauce is simple, and bursting with flavour. I serve it over red quinoa but you can serve it with rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes. Bump it up with some freshly roasted broccoli.
That was my dinner. *happy grin*
MyRealFoodLife.com
Chicken N Bacon
Ingredients
- 2-3 strips bacon
- 1 chicken breast
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup white wine or sherry, 1/4 cup marsala, or 1/4 cup white vermouth
- 1/4 cup rice milk, almond milk, coconut milk, or table cream or whipping cream, or yogurt
- pinch salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Directions
- Slice the chicken breast into thin strips and then cut them in half so you have bite-sized pieces.
- Chop the onion, and add to a hot skillet (don’t use non stick for this recipe, I’ll explain later).
- Cut the bacon in small pieces and add.
- Toss in the chicken pieces. Cook everything on high heat till browned on one side, then flip over the ingredients as much as possible, till browned on both sides. You should have lots of brown crust sticking to the pan. The bacon should be as crispy as possible- and the onions caramelized.
- Take the chicken mixture of the pan and put in a separate container.
- Turn up the heat to maximum, and add your choice of alcohol plus the lemon juice to deglaze the bottom. (which is why non-stick won’t work). Boil till the liquid reduces to your preferance. Serve over quinoa (cook the same way as rice), rice, pasta, or potatoes, with a side of roasted broccoli.
- Add the chicken and onions and bacon back to the pan, and put in your splash of milk. Turn down the heat, and simmer until everything is fully incorporated. If you want the sauce thicker, take1 tsp of tapioca or corn starch, mix with 2 tsp water, then add to the simmering mix till sauce thickens.
YUM.
i think wordpress has a button that says “find these comments most entertaining”
lol :)
Oops.. that was supposed to be:
(grumble) How do people expect to absorb the Vitamin D (or A) in milk without the fat? It’s a fat-soluble vitamin (/grumble)
I guess using angle brackets was a bad idea. Does WordPress have any “preview comment before posting” capabilities?
I love any recipe that has this as the first line of the notes:
“I would advise against the use of low fat or part skim milk in making the ricotta.”
How do people expect to absorb the Vitamin D (or A) in milk without the fat? It’s a fat-soluble vitamin
Guess I need to get my blog back into gear so I can post how these recipes turn out :)
home made ricotta is suuuuper easy! i’m going ot be guest posting on another site in a few months and will be featuring it there (my nonna used to make us this awesome snack of ricotta mixed with honey and cocoa… so awesome.). here’s the recipe- http://italianfood.about.com/library/rec/blr0949.htm
keep me posted on your cooking adventures ;)
rabbit stew- you use a strong flavoured sauce and then i believe, if i remember correctly, you add a dollop or so of ricotta on top before serving.
I guess it’s time to widen my horizon a bit more: I’ve never tried (or even heard of) ricotta in rabbit stew, or even tried making ricotta at home. Sounds like fun :) I used some french recipe for my rabbit stews (lapin a la cocotte or something similar) which seems to be beouf bourguignon with a rabbit. With slightly less wine. I guess that just leaves extra for drinking :)
It’s really bugging me I can’t remember the other recipe site. Joyful Abode has got some dessert recipes too (check out http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/06/10/homemade-york-peppermint-patty-recipe/). Anyway, perhaps the name will come to me in a week or so when I’m not thinking about it.
Have to keep going through your recipe archive now to see what else I can cook…
mmm… rabbit stew- lots of red wine, rosemary, carrots, onion, garlic… serve with a few dollops of fresh home made ricotta… *sigh* home made ricotta.
rabbit is terrific stuff. the meat is so light! big fan. i am totally going to check out those websites! my big thing is trying to do the gluten free without eggs sugar or milk- which is pretty much a huge problemo in baking. if someone is only gluten free i almost envy them- they can eat anything they want, really, if they just do a little research. i even found recipes for gluten free puff pastry!
Gianduia is like drinking nutella- picture frangelico mied with chocolate and loads of cream. Thats Gianduia liqueur. Cafarel (best choclate ever, in my mind :) ) makes phenomenal gianduia truffles. Then there is gianduia ice cream… oh the possibilities are endless.
Its usually on sale at the LCBO around christmas. You deffinetly must come to ontario for this alone lol. Or I’ll drop off some at Angele’s and you can snag it from her. If she doesn’t hide it on you. ;)
Ahh pork suppliers- i have a few favorites too! The Navan butcher- Lavergne Beef, and The Piggy Market in westboro. They make super home made bacon.
Chickens? You must have me confused with some other Jedidja =) It was definitely a fun experience; I ended up trying rabbit over the winter (just cooking it, though). Everyone gives me weird looks when I say I want to eat them. Curry goat is yummy, and I have yet to try quail. Goats would be awesome for making cheese too. Win-win. But I digress…
I had stumbled across Elana’s Pantry as well a couple years ago when I first start reading about the primal diet; another desert site you may have seen is Sweetly Raw, and I’m trying (in vain, currently) to remember the chef @ university who was making tons of desserts without gluten and all the other bad stuff. Girl Gone Primal has some sweet stuff too (http://girlgoneprimal.blogspot.com/p/show-me-recipes.html)
I had never heard of Gianduja liquer before although a quick Wikipedia search says it’s like Nutella…so I’m guessing as alcohol it might be like Frangelico? We don’t exactly have a wide variety at our PEILCC so I’ll have to wait for a trip to Ontario to try it.
I have to find a good supplier of pork at the Farmer’s Market in Charlottetown. When I was closer to Summerside I got awesome bacon every week from Pleasant Pork (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXJqJkcyWjo). Once I get decent bacon I’m definitely trying out the recipe.
heya!
thanks so much for the awesome comment… . btw, i am missing all those stories about chickens. you need to get back at it. i was totally living vicariously … lol… makes me think of my old uncle that raises his own rabbits and goats and quail. yup he slaughters them himself, by hand. oldschool. talk about learning to respect your food… yowza.
yah, about the primal style- i found a great blog (elana’s pantry), – she basically does a paleolithic diet. I’m noticing its probably the direction i am headed in. grains just do not seem to like me, and sugar totally does not, neither does dairy. for a paleo type of bread, try out the almond bread in the previous post- i had no idea almonds would work so well as flour!
good pairings for coconut milk? hm. for this recipe i’d suggest the marsala. i think the vermouth might curdle it and its not heavy enough. I’d also water down the coconut milk- you could even try coconut water.
speaking of coconut milk though- in a dessert like ice cream frangelico or amaretto would be superb with it- stays in the nut family so intuitively they blend well. (just like blending flowers with flowers works too- like the honey/lavender/rose petal combo i’m doing for my next recipe for crackers, or in the mascarpone cream i did a little while ago, although that recipe is on a friend’s blog since i’m dairy free :) ) Alternatively, for a dessert, if you do dairy, try mixing coconut milk with Gianduia liqueur. sweet lord. gianduia is the reason to live. lol
Sounds tasty (and nice and simple to make). Fits into the whole “primal” style of eating too, which is gluten-, corn-, sugar-, soy-, and mostly dairy-free. I think this would have gotten included in Mark’s Primal Blueprint cookbook (marksdailyapple.com).
Are there any recommended pairings of the alcohol + milk/cream? Specifically what do you think would be the best choice for coconut milk?
Love the pictures on your site and really looking forward to trying some of these recipes :)