Twist on a Favorite

A few years back (and you know you're almost thirty when "a few years back" = 10), my dear friend Ems gave me a cookbook that I adore:  Gourmet's Five Ingredients. The now-defunct magazine's editors did an amazing job coming up with great recipes that only use five ingredients, not counting staples like olive oil, spices, and the like. Although I haven't used it in a while, I dug it out on a night when I had chicken and wanted to make something decadent with it.  Enter Chicken Breasts with Spinach, Prosciutto, and Mozzarella (p. 54), which I used to make when I was just learning to cook.

My local health food store sells antibiotic-free, organic, kosher, and best of all, delicious chicken from Wise Poultry, a company based in PA.  If any of you have read The Omnivore's Dilemma, you'll remember consumers of chicken from Polyface Farms describing the taste as more "chickeny."  Wise's poultry is like that.  It's more expensive than others ($12.99 a pound--I know!), but it's worth every penny.

No luck getting prosciutto at the health food store (it's healthy . . . right?), and I'm not allowed to eat mozzarella (who knows why it's not on the list of "recommended" cheeses).  The recipe gives you the choice of basil or spinach, and since basil pairs so well with mozz, I knew the biggest decision to make was the cheese.  I picked up some of their cheapest sharp white cheddar, which we've recently discovered and really enjoy, and some spinach.   Then I was on my way home to cook, which involved no more than:

1. sauteing the chicken, turning it once
2. when it's almost done, placing a couple spinach leaves and small cheddar slices on the top of each
3. covering for the last few minutes, until the cheese is melted and the chicken cooked through

bit o' salt and pepper on the chicken, sauteing in garlic and olive oil

Check out that melted cheddar!  The broccoli is a twist on the garlic and ginger broccoli recipe in the same cookbook (no ginger, no chicken broth, but a splash of water).  It was this recipe that first taught me that you can actually EAT the broccoli stems--what a revelation.  It's no good wasting veggies.

Someone in our house thinks it's okay to feed the cat table food, AT the actual dinner table.  At least that someone finally ate broccoli stems for the first time.  Baby steps.

It's always fun to play with a recipe and come up with a great new go-to version.   The spinach and cheddar reminded me of my mom's spinach bars, which she's made for as long as I can remember. This recipe is so easy that I know we could use it in a pinch on a busy night, but I also can't wait to impress friends with it when they come over for a nice dinner.

Signing off with one big YUM,
Francie