Grilled Chicken with White Wine Sauce

In many cookery shows, I had seen recipes using white wine, but never gave much attention to them, as they were mainly non veg. Though I am a vegetarian, I cook chicken for my hubby (story here). A friend had gifted us with a bottle of nice white wine, when he had visited us last Saturday. It was indeed a great wine and though we drank most of it we were still left with 1/2 cup of wine. So thought of using it in my cooking.

I generally cook chicken on special occasions or when somebody is visiting us, but this time I cooked for the sake of experimenting with white wine. I read couple of recipes on few website and on youtube And the one I got convinced to adapt from was Grilled Chicken Cordon Bleu with White Wine and Lemon Cream Sauce.

The base of the recipe is same but I included some and excluded some ingredients according to our taste. I excluded Ham as hubby doesn’t like it and added milk, mushrooms, chilli flakes, Master food’s Italian Herbs and Mixed Spice. I also cooked the grilled chicken in the sauce for a minute instead of just pouring the sauce over the grilled chicken.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts

2 tsp Honey

2 tsp Dijon Mustard

2 tsp Olive oil

2 Cheese slice ( i used Gouda with paprika)

Salt and Pepper

Sauce:

2-3 mushroom, sliced

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 tsp Butter

1 tsp Oil

Zest of ½ lemon

½ lemon

½ cup white wine

½ cup milk

½ cream

Salt, Pepper, Chilli Flakes, Italian Herbs and Mixed Spice.

Method:

Chicken

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.
2. Slice the chicken breast from the side to open it, but don’t cut till the end.
3. Brush both the opened sides of the chicken breasts with oil, honey and Dijon mustard.
4. Place the chicken slice. I had a wedge of 100gms Paprika Gouda cheese, so i put the cheese shavings on both side.
5. Sprinkle the salt and pepper and fold the both sides of the chicken breasts back to the original shape.
6. Brush the outer side of the chicken breast with oil and grill it in the oven for 20-15 minutes or until it turns white and grill marks appear and change the side first after 15 minutes.
   
   
   
   

Sauce:

1. Heat oil in a pan add butter.
2. Add onion and sauté till it turn pink and then add mushrooms and cook it on medium heat.
3. Add lemon zest, mix. Add lemon juice, mix and White wine , simmer it till it liquid remains half.
4. Add milk and cream and cook it until slightly thick but don’t let it boil.
5. Sprinkle Salt, Pepper, Chilli Flakes, Italian Herbs and Mixed Spice and Mix.

Finally add the cheese grilled chicken to the sauce and let it cook it sauce for a minute. You may slice the chicken if you want to and then add it to the sauce. I added the whole breast.

Plate the chicken breast and pour the remaining sauce over it.

Serve it hot with baguette.

My husband loved it!! i had served him both the breasts but as they were too heavy he could eat only one, and soI froze the other!!!

Caponata

Planned a surprise bday party for my husband, thankfully i pulled the surprise very successfully. Of course, his friends helped me in keeping the surprise and engaged him, while i was preparing for the party. It was a drinks party with snacks . Since the time was 7 pm onward.. i had to make substantially filling snacks, which could substitute dinner. I chose to make Caprese Skewers, Caponata with Toasted Garlic Bread, Hummus, Salsa and bought Aioli, Toasted thin bread. Later, served Chicken Tikka and Chicken Skewers (in south asian sauces marinate) and Falafel in Pita Bread Pockets and for dessert i made Chocolate cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese topping. I was happy with party, firstly, because hubby was really surprise to see his friends home and with little decoration for the party, and secondly, that all the food got over by the end of the party and i didn't have make space in the refrigerator for the leftovers!

While, i was searching for recipes for the party, i came across Caponata on a website called Italian food forever. In my earlier parties, I had already served diff. bruchesttas, but at the same time i wanted to serve something with bread. So then, i chose to make this. It requires quite a bit of cooking, and since it was surprise party, i couldn't have cooked in front of him, so i cooked after midnight, when hubby was deep asleep.

Caponata, is a tomato based eggplant spread, with celery, onion, capers and Olives ... Its a great side dish too ..I took the leftover once as a side dish to a all girls dinner, it was a hit and once i used as Pasta sauce.. Whichever way i have used, its been hit!

This can be made in advance and freeze it!

You can try using either green or black olives. I chose black olives in the recipe and used balsamic vinegar instead of wine vinegar.

Ingredients:

1 Medium long Eggplant

2 Teaspoons Salt

1/3 Cup Olive Oil

3 Small Onions, Chopped

2-3 Cloves Garlic, Minced

2 Stalks Celery, Chopped

1 Can Chopped Tomatoes

1/2 Cup Olives,Chopped

1/4 Cup Capers

1/4 Cup Fresh Chopped Parsley

1/4 Cup Wine Vinegar ( i used Balsamic vinegar)

Salt & Pepper

Red Pepper Flakes (optional)

To Serve: Garlic Toast

Method:

1. Peel the eggplants, and cut into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces.

2. Put in a colander, sprinkle with the salt and leave 30 minutes.

3. In a large pan, add a few tablespoons of the oil, and when hot add the onions, and cook until soft.

4. Add the celery and garlic, and cook 5 minutes.

5. Add the tomatoes and cook an additional 10 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick.

6. Rinse the salt from the eggplant and pat dry.

7. Add the rest of the oil into a frying pan and once it is hot, add the diced eggplant.

8. Cook until the eggplant is tender and turning golden brown.

9. Add the eggplant to the tomato mixture with the rest of the ingredients, and cook on low for another 15 minutes.

10. Check the seasonings and let come to room temperature before serving.