17 June 2011

Seared chicken breast, sautéed zucchini with olives

Driving South.

My mother and I met up at San Francisco International, both landing at approximately the same time (she was coming back from France, so she definitely had me beat on the jet lag front). As I'm free until Sunday we drove down to Pebble Beach this afternoon for a short week-end at the sea. I'm certainly looking forward to a few walks by the beach, and slipping back into my familiar role as house cook.

Simple seared spicy chicken breast with rosemary
(serves 2-3)

2 large chicken breasts, halved length-wise
appr. 1 tsp nutmeg
appr. 1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 big sprigs rosemary
large sea salt, to taste
1/2 cup white wine, chicken stock or water


Rub the nutmeg into the pieces of chicken, and place them in a heated cast-iron skillet (preferably) with olive oil on high flame. Let sear about five minutes, until one side is browned a good deal. Add salt, red pepper and half the rosemary. Flip the chicken and let sear the second side.

Add the rest of the rosemary, and more salt as necessary. Add the wine, stock or water and cover loosely with a lid. Lower the heat to medium. Let the chicken cook until done through, approximately five to ten minutes. Let rest a few minutes before serving.


As the chicken is cooking (err... burning under supervision), let's get going on the zucchini:

Sautéed zucchini with olives
(serves 2)

3 small zucchini
3 medium cloves of garlic (or 2 if you're not so garlic happy as we are), minced
5-6 Kalamata olives in brine, minced
salt, to taste

The ingredient list is really for the sake of formatting - here are the less than abundant requirements.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over high flame. Slice the zucchini and add them to the pan.

Let the slices brown, about ten minutes. Add salt (not too much, as the olives are already quite salty themselves), the olives and garlic. Lower heat to medium and let cook five minutes more.

The finished zucchini await their chicken companions on a plate.

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