watch out for low flying pigs..

..because I cooked a meal. My friends will tell you, I have not always been very handy around the kitchen. Usually I'll just leave them to it and clean up after. But I think its about time I learned how to cook for myself, so I cooked some chicken breasts.


















I'm choosing to post this now as a bit of a finale for the semester (up until today, this blog was part of a school project - Hi Professor Quigley!), as it is kind of a big deal for me. For, literally, the first time, I just went for it - watched a video on how to pan sear chicken, picked out some spices I thought would work well together from my experiments with Annie's Mac and Cheese, and made myself some chicken! I even made a sauce out of what was left in the pan with a few added ingredients. I'm pretty sure this is what many would call a breakthrough experience. Now the whole idea seems less daunting, and I can try out new things as I get the hang of it more. My new favorite passtime, exploring new things! Anyway, enough talk, here it is! Chicken done Simply!

First, I seasoned the chicken with citrus salt, black peppercorn, and lemon pepper on both sides. I didn't add that much to the chicken itself, the garlic and rosemary went into the sauce.

After that is the fun part! I used a cast iron skillet because it was the biggest I had, but it actually ended up working well. I let the skillet get hot and heated some oil before letting the chicken sear for about 4 minutes on each side.

After it was cooked on both sides, I put it in the oven (preheated to about 375) and let it cook all the way through until it looked done. I lost track of exactly how long it was in there, as I was preparing the sauce!

While the chicken was searing, I minced up some shallots and prepared the garlic to go in what was leftover in the pan after the chicken was done. That, I learned, is called the Fond, and is what makes up the base of the sauce. I added enough chicken broth to cover the whole bottom of the pan - enough that I could bring it to a boil - and threw a bit of Rosemary in as well.

I tried kneading a bit of flour and butter together to thicken the sauce a bit, but I think I over did it. Next time I won't add quite so much, but I'd rather it be a bit thick than too runny in this case. I also forgot to put the juice from the chicken in, which was suggested, and I'm sure that would have made it better.

And finally, Voila! Chicken done Simply. And you know what, it really did taste good.

BUT WAIT!

I also made a video, for your viewing pleasure. Ladies and Gentleman, Emily learns to cook: