Friday, May 17, 2013

May 17, 2013

What a hectic week!  My "summer" grad class (it is over before it is officially summer) is an amazing amount of work, and it meets twice a week.  I have a triathlon in about 2 weeks so I am trying to fit a lot of training into my spare time. Needless to say I have been putting a lot of effort into school and swimming/biking/running instead of trying out many new recipes.  I did fit in one this week, and it was definitely a keeperBraised Chicken and Kale was fantastic, and I think it was the fresh lemon that put it over the top for us.  To be honest I had never tried kale in any form before this, but have heard so much about it, and I know it is a "super food".  I decided it was time to give it a go.  I don't know if it was this specific recipe or that Hannah and I found that we just love kale, but the two of us really thought it was the shining star of dish.

Class again this week (of course), plus a soccer tournament this weekend, and Ryan heads out of town on business for most of the week.  We will have to see what new dishes, if any, I whip up in the week ahead! 

Happy Cooking

New Recipe
Braised Chicken and Kale


Braised Chicken and Kale





Ingredients
* 1 lb chicken breasts, sliced thin (or butterflied)
* 1 tbsp paprika
* freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
* 1 tsp olive oil
* 1medium onion, sliced thin
* 6 garlic cloves, sliced
* 2 cups chicken broth
* 1 cup dry white wine
* 2 sprigs thyme
* 1 large bunch of kale, ribs and stems removed, cut into 1" strips
* lemon wedges

Directions
1. Sprinkle chicken with paprika and season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in a large pot or saute pan over medium heat.  Brown the chicken on both sides, then transfer to a plate.
3. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 8 minutes.  Return the chicken to the pan, and add the broth, wine and thyme.  Bring to a boil, cover.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is nearly cooked through, about 15 minutes.
4. Add the kale to the pan.  Cover, and cook the kale until wilted, about 5 minutes.
5. Discard the thyme, and serve the chicken and kale with lemon wedges.

Notes
Wow!!!!  We loved this!!!  I had never cooked or even tried kale before, but figured I should hop on the kale train and see how it went over.  Everyone enjoyed this dinner tremendously, and Hannah and I were fighting over finishing the kale before Ryan even got some. (Note to self...definitely need to add more kale for us next time).  Squeezing the lemon over the chicken and kale really added a brightness to this dish that put it over the top.  We did serve some egg noodles on the side for my carb lovers!  They drizzled the sauce over the noodles, so next time it might make sense to try to reduce the braising liquid after cooking the kale to make it a bit "saucier"!