So Many Dishes

I was cooking dinner last night, and realized that I needed to refill the olive oil container I keep on the counter. This is what I call my everyday olive oil, the one that goes “once around the pan” to sauté foods, gets put in marinades, or is the base of a salad dressing.

In addition to this olive oil, I also have my “good” oil. This is my finishing oil that gets added at the end of cooking, or gets dribbled over salad, along with some vinegar or lemon juice. Currently, I have two of these oils: one of the oils from the University of California, Davis olive center, and a fresh-pressed oil from Italy that was a Christmas gift from Ben.

I wasn’t always so picky about oils. Growing up, we always had Berio or Bertolli brands, which came from the general area in Italy where my grandfather was born—at least, that’s what he told us. I certainly appreciated the difference between olive oil and other vegetable oils. When we lived in Prague in 1993, I remember how rare olive oil was, and the funny looks the grocery store checkers would give me as they punched the price into the register.

I started to pay more attention to my oil as the scandals around Italian olive oil made the news. And then Annie, our daughter-in-law, went to Croatia as part of her MBA program, and brought back olive oil. What a revelation! The taste was distinctive and delicious. I began to pay more attention and to try olive oils from different countries.

Depending on how you look at it, Ben gets either the credit or the blame for my current olive oil obsession. Credit because I really think high quality olive oil, especially if it’s a more flavorful oil, tea enhances food. Blame because good oil is not cheap 😄 He gets oil from a subscription service that imports fresh-pressed oils from smaller producers in various countries. The oils he has given us come from this service, and have been uniformly wonderful.

Anyway, I used my everyday oil to sauté thin cut chicken breasts for chicken Français. This is such a delicious recipe, and another where I wonder why we don’t make it more often. It goes together pretty quickly, and is a perfect dish for a special occasion meal. But it was great for a quiet weeknight dinner, too.

I’ve adapted this from a Cooking Light recipe, but my changes are minimal. Because the original recipe is for two pounds of chicken breast, and I only used about a pound, I’ve finally remembered to cut the egg mixture ingredients in half, rather than throw out half of what I mixed together. I don’t cut back on the butter, wine, and lemon juice that finishes the dish, however. I’ve talked before about our love for sauce, plus those ingredients are essential in deglazing the pan. I used my enameled cast iron skillet to cook this, and I was able to get all the chicken pieces in the pan comfortably in one batch. If you need to cook the chicken in two batches, I’d suggest adding a bit extra olive oil before adding the second batch of chicken.

You can buy thin cut chicken breast pieces, but I cut my own. I had one large chicken breast half that weighed just over a pound in the freezer. I partially thawed it, then stood it on its side and sliced it into four pieces, then let it finish thawing in the refrigerator.

I served the chicken with green beans and some good Cuban rolls. The only thing missing was a glass of wine, but these days, alcohol is limited to the weekends. I joked that I should have switched dishes, because tonight’s Kung pao shrimp really isn’t a wine type meal.

Chicken Français

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 egg, beat
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I omitted this time)
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 (4-ounce) thin cut boneless chicken breast pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Place flour in a shallow dish. Combine egg, Parmesan, parsley, 2 tablespoons wine, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, salt, and garlic powder in a second shallow dish.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Dredge chicken breast pieces in flour, then dip in egg mixture. Add chicken to skillet; cook 4 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Remove from pan; keep warm.

Melt butter in the pan, scraping up browned bits. Add 1/4 cup wine and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Bring to a boil; cook 10 seconds. Serve immediately over chicken.

Happy eating!