Lemon Chicken with Cream Sauce

If you've got a dishwasher full of clean dishes and a sink full of dirty ones, this is the perfect dish to make. Just get it started and by the time you're done cleaning the kitchen, it'll be about ready.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: around 25 minutes


The finished dish has good color and a fresh spring taste from the lemon


 Tools needed:

1. Electric skillet

               or

1. A regular pan and a laser temperature gun

Ingredients:

1. 2 tbsp butter
2. around 12 ounces Chicken breasts
3. 3 oz pasta by weight or about 3/4 to 1 cup depending on the type of pasta. It doesn't have to be exact.
4. 1 cup half and half
5. 2 handfuls (160g) frozen peppers
6. 1 cup chicken broth




Halfway through the cooking process, it didn't look good. Have faith

7. 3 anchovy filets (optional)

8. the juice of one lemon

Directions:







1. Heat the butter over a medium flame. You want it to be as close as possible to 350 F but no hotter
2. Put in the chicken; this will immediately cool the pan, so turn up the heat
3. Monitor the heat as you brown the chicken. Try to keep it between 285F (where browning can occur) and 350F (where butter starts to burn). The hotter the better.
4. After the chicken has browned, add the rest of the ingredients. The lemon juice will curdle the half and half. Don't worry.
5. Cook until the pasta is done. About the time the sauce has been reduced, the pasta should be ready, but if not, you can add more chicken broth.

Q & A:

Q: Oh, I left my laser temperature gun on my spaceship. Seriously, why do I need a gun to cook a meal?

A: It's to protect your right to "keep and bear" nicely browned chicken. If the temperature is too low, it'll "infringe" on the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between amino acids and sugars that results in succulently brown turkey skin, Peking duck, smoky  ribs, or, in this case, decently brown chicken. The reaction only occurs above around 300F. OTOH, the smoke alarm starts going off when butter gets to around 350F. So you either need a fancy thermometer gun or an electric skillet to keep the temperature "well regulated."

Q: Uh...anchovies?

A: You might have heard of "umami," the fifth taste. There is salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami is number five. Anchovies are high in umami. Happily, the anchovies will disintergrate, imparting their umami goodness to the sauce while leaving nary a trace of their true identity, which is good because the best anchovy is the anchovy you can't tell is there. At least that's what I think, but here's a link to someone who is far more anchovy-oriented. Anchovy & Fig Recipe. I think I'm going to try that recipe.

Q: So how many dishes will I need to wash?

A: The skillet (no lid needed), a one-cup measure, a knife for cutting the lemon and the chicken (if you opted to cut it into pieces), a spoon to stir your creation and maybe a fork to "fish" the anchovies out of their little tin. You can probably use the same fork to get your 2-tablespoon hunk of butter...You might want to get the butter first.



Nutritional info:

amt	ingredient	fat grams	carbohydrate grams	protein grams	total calories
12 oz	chicken breast	14		44	341
1 cup	half and half	28	11	7	315
3 oz	Dreamfields Pasta	2	7	9	285
160 gr (two handfuls)	frozen sweet bell peppers		24	3	90
28 g = 2 tbsp	butter	22			200
	3 anchovies				negligable
	juice of one lemon				negligable
	chicken broth				negligable
total		66	42	63
per serving (3 servings)		22	14	21	410