A Dinner With The Prince

Here we are sitting down to dinner at the palace with our new found prince charming and what do we find in front of us? A bright flavorful dish called chicken francaise. A lightly breaded and pan fried chicken breast with a butter, white wine and fresh parsley sauce. You could serve it with pasta but I served that amazing chicken breast next to a serving of my delicious butter and garlic broccoli. My husband told me it was so good he wanted me to make that for his birthday. Nobody has ever said that to me before. I nearly cried guys.

Ingredients

Chicken

• 4 large skinless boneless chicken breast halves (2 pounds total)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Broccoli

• 2 heads broccoli
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 Tbsp. butter
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place your chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them with a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin until about half an inch thick. (I regret leaving them this thick because it took longer then I though it would to cook them. I should’ve pounded them to a 1/4 inch)
2. Cut the stems off all your broccoli and cut it into small florets.
3. Mince all your garlic cloves.
4. Put your broccoli, garlic and 4 tablespoons of butter into a small pan and cover it. Turn your burner on low. Your broccoli will cook low and slow for about 15 minutes. If your pan gets too dry just add more butter. Truly there isn’t too much you could put in there.
5. Heat the oil in your pan to slightly below medium.
6. Dredge each chicken breast in your flour and then in your egg. Let the excess drip off then lay the piece of chicken away from you in the pan. That way the last part of the chicken to hit the oil in the pan doesn’t have a chance to splash you with oil.
7. Cook them two at a time in the pan for roughly 4 1/2 minutes on each side. I didn’t keep a timer on it, but you want them cooked until golden. The chicken inside should be moist and the outside crispy. (This is one of those moments I wish I had a meat thermometer. You want your chicken to be above 145 degrees inside.)
8. When all your chicken is cooked put it on a paper towel lined plate and tent the plate with aluminum foil. You want to keep the chicken warm.
9. Clean out your pan and then melt your butter. Once the butter stops foaming then put the wine, chicken stock, lemon juice and salt/pepper. Cook your sauce for about 8 minutes until your sauce reduces to about half a cup.
10. Add your chopped parsley to your sauce and cook for another minute.
11. Plate your chicken and broccoli and spoon sauce over dish.
12. Serve to very happy customers.

This is my first experience cooking a french dish and I was truly happy with the way it turned out. Anything with wine and butter in it speaks to me on a spiritual level. I feel like a dish like this would make Cinderella very happy and would make any of us feel like a wealthy princess. Its rich and bright and fragrant and makes my kitchen smell like a spring picnic.