That's good eatin'!

So G. Monkey came over last night, which was most awesome. And were it not for the fact that I have to be at work at oh-dark-thirty tomorrow morning, I'd be with her tonight at the Keller Williams show. Instead, I get to go with P to go pick up his bike tomorrow night. Not a bad trade, but I would love to hear the Price is Right song in person...

So anyway, last night, G. Monkey came over, and was super excited to have some of the infamous Roasted Cauliflower, and I was super excited that she wanted to eat some of the infamous roasted cauliflower so we got to play in the kitchen some. I wanted something to work well with the garlic and rosemary in the cauliflower, so I decided to make these:

Dead Simple Rosemary Chicken

Scale this for one person, or a crowd, just add more stuff. You'll need the following:

Chicken breasts
Fresh rosemary sprigs
Garlic cloves
chicken broth
a bay leaf (optional)
a squirt of lemon juice (optional)
Cornstarch

Take however many chicken breasts you want to use and trim them up, then pound the thicker ends flat, so they'll cook evenly. Flip them so that the cut side is up, and season liberally with salt and pepper and some bits of fresh rosemary.

Heat up your (non-nonstick) frying pan, and put a bit of oil on the bottom (not enough to deep fry, just enough to keep the chicken from sticking). While it's warming up sort of slowly, toss in a few whole cloves of garlic (smashed slightly, if you like). When the oil's hot, put your chicken breasts in, seasoned side down, and walk away. Let the chicken get nice and brown on the bottom before you season the top side with more salt, pepper, and rosemary, and flip 'em. Stir the garlic around so it's not burning (if it gets dark, pull it out). Cook the chicken breasts till the other side is nice and brown, and the inside no longer is pink (you may need to flip again).

When the chicken's done, pull it out of the pan, and place it on a plate. Turn the heat down on your pan, and deglaze it with a good amount of chicken broth. This is the part where you'll want to keep tasting it to make sure it's not funky. If it's too strong, toss in a little bit of water, and a squirt of lemon juice. I put a bay leaf into mine for a little while as well. Let it boil for a bit, then pull out the remaining garlic and rosemary, and add cornstarch mixed with water to the boiling mixture till it makes a nice little sauce. Place the chicken breasts back in the pan, just to warm up a tinch, and serve with a bit of the sauce, some roasted cauliflower, and a nice salad.

Yum.

No pictures, because I wasn't thinking of how pretty it was, just how good it was going to taste.

In other news, I ripped out my Flower Basket Shawl, partly because I think I'd like it better done in one strand (so I keep telling myself) and partly because I kept effing up the row I was on, and was ready to punch myself in the kidney. So... I'm back on the initial 23 row setup, and doubting very highly I'll get anything else done on it till perhaps Sunday. (on the upside? I do like it better with the single strand, it's a little more ephemeral, and the subtle changes in color show up better.)