Lemon Spinach Chicken Food

PEPPERCORN CHICKEN WITH LEMON SPINACH

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush 1 tablespoon mustard all over the chicken. Sprinkle with the peppercorns, rosemary and salt to taste, patting gently so the seasonings stick. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat; add 2 tablespoons oil. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, about 6 minutes, turning once. Transfer to a baking dish (set aside the skillet for the sauce); bake the chicken until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add the shallots to the skillet; cook over medium-high heat until just soft. Remove the pan from the heat, add the brandy, then return the pan to the heat and scrape up any browned bits. Add the broth, bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons mustard and the parsley. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic; cook about 30 seconds. Add the spinach, season with salt and cook until wilted; add the lemon zest. Slice the chicken and drizzle with the shallot sauce. Serve with the spinach. Photograph by Antonis Achilleos

SPINACH LEMON CHICKEN BREAST

Steps:

• Preheat oil in skillet. Cook spinach and onion over medium heat until just wilted. Remove from skillet and set aside.
• Combine flour, salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour.
• Melt butter in skillet. Add chicken. Cook about 4-5 minutes per side, just until golden brown. Remove chicken to heated dish.
• Add broth, wine, lemon juice and garlic. Deglaze pan and cook sauce about 2 minutes, until reduced by half. Add spinach.
• Plate chicken over starch of choice (rice, potatoes or pasta). Pour spinach and sauce over all to serve.
• May be served "family style" by placing all on a single large platter.

CLASSIC LEMON CHICKEN WITH SAUTEED SPINACH

Steps:

• Squeeze the juice from one and a half lemons and reserve. Cut the remaining half lemon into very thin slices. Remove seeds and set the lemon slices aside.
• Season the chicken scallopini with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour, coating both sides, and tap the excess flour off. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add as many scallopini into the pan that will fit without touching, and cook until golden brown, approximately 3 minutes. Flip and cook second side until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Remove scallopini and drain on paper towel.
• When done with the scallopini, wipe off the fat from the skillet with paper towels. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, butter, garlic, and lemon juice and slices to the skillet. Cook, scraping the bottom until garlic is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Scoop out the lemon slices and set aside. Add the caper berries and olives and cook, stirring gently for about 4 minutes. Pour in wine and bring to a boil. Cook until the wine is reduced by half. Add the chicken stock and boil until slightly syrupy. Return the scallopini to the skillet and coat each piece in the sauce. Add parsley and swirl into sauce.
• Divide scallopini onto separate plates. Spoon the sauce over, and add the caper berries and olives around scallopini. Add some of the spinach on the side. Finish by decorating each plate with reserved lemon slices on top of the scallopini.
• Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Crush garlic cloves with the side of the knife and add to the oil. Cook until golden brown, approximately 2 minutes. Add the spinach in handfuls, and season lightly with salt and pepper, and cover pan. Cook until spinach releases its liquid. Uncover pan, and cook stirring until spinach is wilted and water has evaporated. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper.

LEMON AND GARLIC CHICKEN WITH SPICED SPINACH

Steps:

• Stir together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Cut each chicken breast into 2 equal pieces (3 if they are 12 ounces or more) and place in the bowl. Stir together and refrigerate 15 to 30 minutes.
• Combine ground allspice, coriander or cumin, and cinnamon in a small bowl or ramekin and set aside.
• Remove chicken from the marinade and pat dry (discard marinade). Place two sheets of plastic wrap (1 large sheet if you have extra-wide wrap) on your work surface, overlapping slightly, to make 1 wide sheet, and brush lightly with olive oil. Place a piece of chicken in the middle of plastic sheet and brush lightly with oil. Cover the chicken with another wide layer of plastic wrap. Working from the center to the outside, pound chicken breast with the flat side of a meat tenderizer until about 1/4 inch thick. (Don't pound too hard or you'll tear the meat. If that happens it won't be the end of the world, you'll just have a few pieces to cook.) Repeat with the remaining chicken breast pieces.
• Season pounded chicken breasts with salt and pepper on one side only. Dredge lightly in the flour (you won't use all of it).
• Turn oven on low. Heat a wide, heavy skillet over high heat and add the oil. When oil is hot, place one or two pieces of chicken in the pan - however many will fit without crowding the pan. Cook for for 1 1/2 minutes until bottom is browned in spots. Turn over and brown on other side, about 1 1/2 minutes. (Do not overcook or chicken will be dry.) Transfer to a platter or sheet pan and keep warm in the oven. If there is more than a tablespoon of fat in the pan, pour some (but not all) of it off into a jar or bowl.
• Turn burner heat down to medium. Add ground spices to the pan and when they begin to sizzle add spinach and salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon and deglazing the bottom of the pan with the liquid that comes off the spinach, until spinach wilts, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove to a platter or to plates and serve with the chicken.

LEMON, CHICKEN AND ORZO SOUP WITH SPINACH

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrot, celery, onion, 1/4 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook for 1 minute.
• Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir in the orzo. Cook until the orzo is just tender, about 7 minutes.
• Add the chicken and simmer until heated through. Add the spinach and stir until wilted. Remove from the heat and stir in the dill and lemon zest. Season with additional salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with additional dill.

CHICKEN TENDERS WITH LEMON-SPINACH RICE

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add the chicken tenders and the garlic; cook, turning, for 6 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown and the juices run clear; transfer to a plate and keep warm.
• Add all the remaining ingredients except the spinach and bring to the boil over a high heat; cover and reduce the heat to low;cook for 10 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed.
• Add the spinach to the skillet and toss to mix well; place the contents of the pan on a large platter and top with the chicken.

LEMON-SPINACH CHICKEN

Steps:

• Combine first three ingredients in shallow pain; dredge chicken through flour mixture.
• Melt butter in large skillet, add garlic, and saute' until tender. Add chicken and brown. Remove chicken from skillet, reserving drippings.
• Stir chicken broth, wine, and lemon juice (and zest if you want) into reserved drippings, loosening browned particles in skillet; bring to boil. Return chicken to skillet; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, 4 or 5 minutes or until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked.
• Place spinach and tomatos on individual serving plates; spoon chicken and sauce over spinach.

LEMON & SPINACH STUFFED BASIL CHICKEN BREASTS

Steps:

• Cut deep pocket in side of each chicken breast. Be careful not to pierce top and bottom.
• Place 2 quarters of the lemon slice, and a fourth of the basil and spinach in pocket of each breast.
• Thread wooden toothpicks along the side to close the chicken. Sprinkle with lemon pepper.
• Heat oven to 200°F.
• Heat oil in skillet over medium heat.
• Add chicken to skillet & cook on each side until golden brown (3-5 minutes per side).
• Add vinegar & broth, and bring to boil. reduce heat & simmer for 5 minutes, or until cooked through.
• Remove breasts from skillet and place in baking dish in oven to keep warm.
• Continue cooking sauce until reduced to a thick syrup. Add salt & pepper.
• Remove chicken from oven and place on individual plates. Spoon sauce over each & serve.