Roasted Chicken Breasts with New Potatoes

I need to cook something amazing.

My first thought, as usual, is cookies and a soup. The cookies turned out surprisingly well.

But the soup... that's been done (by me, several times :P).

So I'm thinking of herbed chicken breast with a pan jús (totally the wrong accent... darned French) and herb roasted new potatoes. It's a delicious dish I've impressed quite a few people with. I first learned of the technique working in restaurants as an undergrad. You sear a piece of meat (it works with everything: chicken breasts, pork chops, steak, etc) on both sides in a really hot pan. Then you pop the meat in the oven usually for only about 25 minutes and BAM; welcome to the most juicy, delicious piece of meat ever. This is very much a blueprint recipe so adjust at will depending on what you're cooking; when I cook steak I use mostly just rosemary and parsley and deglaze the pan with red wine; when I cook pork, I stick to a sage and rosemary combo. In short, this recipe is a weapon of mass interpretation.

Herb Roasted Chicken and New Potatoes for 2

2 Chicken breasts
salt
pepper
About 3/4 cup chopped parsley (or one bunch)
1 tbsp chopped sage/thyme/rosemary (any combination thereof measuring 3 tbsp total)

Rinse then pat the chicken breasts dry. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Mix the herbs together in a dish and toss the chicken breasts coating them. Let these guys set for a bit while you work on the potatoes.

3- 4 new potatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
chopped rosemary/thyme/sage any combination thereof measuring 2 tbsp

Dice the potatoes into small, bite-size chunks. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, then toss with the herbs.

Olive oil
White wine

Now here's where the magic begins. First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Arrange the potatoes on one side of a baking sheet-leave room for the chicken. Next get a pan (make sure it's NOT nonstick) and set it dry on a burner on medium heat. Once the pan is hot, drizzle in some olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken breasts. (It's important to use a pan large enough to comfortably fit both chicken breasts without over-crowding). The oil should sizzle the second the breasts hit the pan.

Don't touch a darned thing. Let the chicken brown and sear fully. When the sides start to go white, that's when you can take a quick peek with a spatula. If the chicken is brown, flip and brown on the other side. Once it's finished, place the chicken on the baking sheet with the potatoes and bake until the potatoes are done - about 20 minutes.

Oh, and the pan jús... Once you've got the chicken in the oven and the pan is still warm, splash in some white wine or chicken stock and scrape up those tasty bits of flavor stuck to the bottom. You don't need a lot of liquid, and the sauce is going to be strong. Once the bits are scraped up remove the pan from the heat. When the chicken and potatoes are nearly finished toss in a pat of butter to make the sauce extra rich. Spoon it over the breasts and potatoes.



MAGIC... and another candidate for the "I should never be a food photographer" category...