Sunday, July 8, 2007

Chicken Breasts with Olives and Roast Lemons over Roasted Cauliflower Puree






This is one of my absolute most favorite meals. I found the recipe for the chicken in one of those Everyday Food magazines you find in the line at the grocery, although I modified it a little to suit my tastes. The recipe instructs the cook to use green olives, while for me the tangy-ness provided by the roast lemons is sufficient and so I use more mild black olives. I also use more white wine for the pan gravy, ha! Roast lemons are ready after 45 minutes or so in the oven, and the chicken is just browned and a white wine gravy is made from its drippings. I came up with the "recipe" for the roasted cauliflower puree myself; I use quotations because the recipe's so simple it can't really be called a recipe. All the cauliflower puree recipes I usually see call for boiled and then well-drained cauliflower, but nothing dries the cauliflower out better than roasting it (a dry cauliflower makes for a better-textured puree). I roast mine with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Plus, the roasting gives it a caramelized flavor. After roasting, I put the cauliflower in a food processor with two cubes of Light Garlic and Herb Laughing Cow Cheese (a variation on the regular recipes, which usually call for cream, butter, and parmesan cheese). It comes out really well and is much healthier than using all that butter and cream. I usually eat half of it right out of the food processor before it even gets to the table.

No comments: