Monday, January 4, 2010

Grilled Garlic Chicken in White Wine Broth

Hello and Happy New Year! I hope you are all having a good start to 2010! This years looks to bring with it many changes and hopefully will take a turn for the better, not worse.

This year, I am beginning a journey of losing weight and so my blog will start to focus more on healthier food. With 130 lbs. to lose, I can't continue making 3,000 calorie dinners.

This recipe is a very healthy and tasty version of Breaded Garlic Chicken in White Wine Sauce...this is Grilled Garlic Chicken in a White Wine Broth. The chicken is not breaded and there is no cream or butter in the broth, so the calories and fat are cut to a fraction of what they would be otherwise.

Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1.25 lbs. Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
1/2 Large Sweet Onion (chopped)
6-8 Cloves Garlic (sliced small)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Kosher or Sea Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Fresh Ground Pepper
2 Teaspoons Garlic Powder
2 Teaspoons Onion Powder
1 Tablespoon Oregano
1 Tablespoon Parsley
1 (32 oz.) Carton Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth/Stock
1/2 Bottle White Wine
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Capers
Juice of 1 Lemon (seeds removed)

Directions:

Trim chicken breasts of all visible fat, then fillet each breast so you have two pieces that are half the thickness of the original piece.

^TIP: To fillet, take your large chef's knife in your dominant hand with the blade facing the chicken horizontally, perpendicular to your body and facing towards the center of your cutting board. Place your non-cutting hand on the top of the chicken breast and start cutting the breast horizontally 1/2 way down from the top of the breast, watching to keep the blade horizontally centered and away from your non-cutting hand.^^

Once all the chicken is filleted, sprinkle both sides of the breasts with a majority of the salt, the garlic powder, onion powder and majority of pepper, in this order. Cover on plate and place in fridge for 20-30 minutes.

For Broth: Heat up a 3-quart pot on medium heat. Pour olive oil into the pot, allow to heat up to shimmer (approximately 20-30 seconds), then add chopped onion and sliced garlic, pinch of salt and pinch of ground pepper, oregano and parsley. Cook until onions are soft, approximately 5-7 minutes, stirring every minute or so.

Once onions are soft, add in wine and reduce by half (cover with lid to expedite process, stirring occasionally). Once the wine has reduced by half, add chicken stock, capers, lemon and half the balsamic and allow to reduce by 1/4 (approximately 10 minutes).

At this point, preheat your oven to 280 degrees.

Add rest of balsamic vinegar, take pot off heat and place on back burner to hold.

Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Use a cooking spray (preferably one that is just olive oil) and mist the pan once hot. Place chicken breasts in pan and cook for 5-6 minutes, turning half way through. Chicken should only be cooked 1/2 way through when you are finished.

Take out a large 9x13 pan (metal or glass, your preference) and pour in wine broth that you have on the stove. Add chicken to broth, cover and place in oven. Cook for 2 hours.

This is great over mashed potatoes, or over a pasta dish. Tonight, I cooked Fettuccine pasta with spring vegetables. After cooking the pasta to al dente, I drained the pasta, added in the summer vegetables (previously cooked), some of the broth from the chicken and some more balsamic vinegar to make the pasta a little sweeter. I covered and let it cook down until most of the broth was absorbed by the pasta. I then poured another 2 ladels of the broth into the pasta, quickly tossed it and served with the chicken.

1 serving of Chicken (4 oz.) and 1/2 cup of pasta was 377 Calories, 5.8 grams fat, 41.1 grams protein and 28.8 grams carbs. If you use a whole grain pasta (I didn't have any if you can believe that), you make out a little better but on a whole, these numbers are comfortable for any diet. If you are on a specialized diet, you can modify it (no pasta) and still enjoy the great flavor of this dish. To make this not healthy but extra tasty, bread and fry your chicken and put about a stick of butter into the stock while cooking it on the stove.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. I wish you and your family a very Happy New Year filled with prosperity, love and some fun times in the kitchen.

Buona Fortuna and as always...

Yours in cooking,
Chris

No comments:

Post a Comment

I would really appreciate your feedback. Please leave a comment after you read letting me know what you think. Also, if you try a recipe, please let me know how it came out and if you found my post helpful! Thanks so much for reading.