The Best Laid Plans....

Pan-Roasted Chicken Paillard

That John Steinbeck was so smart.  I googled this quote for my title because I knew it pertained to me (almost on a daily basis) and specifically, this blog.  Now that I am an adult, I get why we had to read the classics and why they were classics to begin with.  Books with messages that stand the test of time. Thanks Mrs. Morris, wherever you are!  But I digress...

I find myself thinking in my head, as I pick a recipe, what the story could be.  First of all, this one was in Bon Appetit....Fancy.  And I am not sure how to pronounce the name of it (Chicken Pillard)...double fancy.  Then I read the recipe...oh for goodness' sake.  This is just a pan fried chicken breast.  There we go.  I've got the story to go with blog.  Fancy chicken, really just salt and pepper on a chicken breast and then cook...that's what I get for thinking or planning, if you will.

(Note the "de-boned" chicken breast
on the right)

I liked that there were very few ingredients for this 'fancy' chicken breast.  And when I initially read the recipe it seemed like a snap.  But not so fast there, pilgrim. I had to cut the breast off of my bone-in chicken breast.  Sounds easy....not so much for a first timer.  I butchered the first breast and I am pretty sure I left as much meat on the bone as I took off.  As I went along, I got better(ish).  The trick was, you needed the skin on and bones off.  Maybe I need the practice, maybe let the professionals do it.

Looks pretty clarified to me...

The next part was I had to make my own clarified butter.  They explained it was the frothy white stuff that separates when you melt the butter.  You are getting rid of the 'milk solids'....sounds disgusting.  I probably should have You Tubed a how-to video, but I just winged it.  I made a huge mess, but got the job done, just the same.  (Apparently they sell this in the grocery store....who knew?)  Although, once I figured out what I was doing, it wasn't that difficult.

I found it interesting that you cook the chicken, almost entirely, skin side down without flipping.  I was nervous about that.  I cooked it a little longer on the stove top than they said to, and also baked it a couple of minutes longer.  The last thing I needed was to serve my people under cooked (insert fancy name) chicken.  When I took the chicken out of the oven, it looked so pale and bland.  But then I flipped the chicken over....  wow.  Well played fancy named chicken and equally fancy food magazine.

A branded woman

Of course, I reached out to turn the pan so the handle was not hanging over the edge of the stove top....and like an idiot, forgot that I had just pulled it out of the hot oven.  I now have a brand of said handle on two fingers and thumb. A rookie mistake, I make over and over and over....again.

I am here to tell you, this was one heck of a chicken breast.  What I thought was going to be just a fancy magazine, renaming a simple boring entree....was most certainly not.  I was surprised at how good this chicken was.  My husband asked me the brand of chicken I used this time because it was fantastic. (couldn't be how I cooked it....must be the brand of the chicken (insert eye roll here)), but I'll take it.

I think I am going to make nice
with my local butcher

Ingredients

I guess I have to figure out how to pronounce the name of this chicken breast dinner.  And admit I was wrong (this wasn't just a fancy name for the same old, same old).  Well, I'll start with the pronunciation. ;) And do a better job de-boning...oops.

Bon Appetit
Jan 2013