• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Nutritional Analysis: 461 calories, FAT 25 g, PROTEIN 43 g, CARB 7 g, FIBER 1 g, CHOL 119 mg, IRON 2 mg, SODIUM 684 mg, CALC 39 mg

Cooking Lesson

Boneless, skinless chicken breast is the most popular yet perhaps the least flavorful cut of chicken. Marinating it in a mixture of spirits and acid makes it more palatable. If you’re out of gin, try vodka or tequila, and squeeze in a lemon. You won’t change the nutritional analysis appreciably, and you’ll still have a pumped up flavor to your chicken breast that’s golden on the outside, succulent in the middle.

Menu Suggestion

Add a huge spinach salad to complete this dinner. Mix celery, scallions, and an avocado in with the spinach. Crumble goat cheese (we love Laura Chenel’s new Norse cheese) on top, and dress with your favorite vinaigrette. This will add about 9 grams of carbohydrates and 12 grams of protein per serving.

Shirley’s Sautéed Sherry Chicken

Keep packages of chicken tenders or boneless, skinless chicken breasts handy for quick, brightly flavored dinners you can have on the table in a flash.

MAKES 2 SERVINGS

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (10 ounces total), split and pounded to ¼-inch thickness

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon freshly milled black pepper

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

½ cup finely chopped onion 2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

4 cups mesclun or mixed baby lettuces

1 teaspoon dried cranberries

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat, then add the olive oil and butter. Cook the chopped onion and garlic until transluscent, about 4 minutes. Move the vegetables to the sides of the pan to make room for the chicken. Place the breasts in the pan and let them cook undisturbed until they begin to brown on the edges, about 2 minutes. Turn once and continue to cook until the chicken is done, about 2 more minutes.

Stir together the mustard and vinegar in a small bowl. Spoon ½ teaspoon of the mixture into a mixing bowl and set aside. Pour the rest over the chicken and onion mixture in the pan. Cook and stir 1 more minute.

While the chicken is cooking, whisk the extra-virgin olive oil into the mustard mixture in the mixing bowl. Toss the salad greens in this vinaigrette, then divide between two plates. Top with cooked chicken and finish with dried cranberries. Serve at once.

Nutritional Analysis: 436 calories, FAT 23 g, PROTEIN 45 g, CARB 12 g, FIBER 3 g, CHOL 124 mg, IRON 3 mg, SODIUM 774 mg, CALC 120 mg

Cooking Lesson

In this recipe we simply transfer a part of the mustard-vinegar mixture we’re using to sauce the chicken in the salad bowl, add oil, and whisk. Never let raw meat touch or contaminate any dressing that is not to be cooked. This is the most common way salmonella is transferred in kitchens.

Mustard both thickens and flavors whatever dish we use it in. Here it makes a fine binder for the chicken as well as the salad. Always use the best quality mustard you can lay your hands on.

Menu Suggestion

Add a ½-cup serving of steamed cauliflower to this basic menu, and you have increased the fiber content by almost half, while only raising the calories by 25 and the carbohydrates by 2 or 3 grams.

East Indian Chicken with Spinach and Farmers’ Cheese

Saag paneer, the Indian spinach dish studded with fresh cheese, makes a soothing counterpoint to a hot and spicy sautéed chicken in coconut gravy. These big flavors satisfy your appetite without breaking the carbohydrate bank.

MAKES 2 SERVINGS

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes (concurrent)

DRY RUB

½ teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

1 teaspoon garam masala, or 1 teaspoon curry powder with ½ teaspoon hot paprika

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon white pepper

2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (10 ounces total)

2 teaspoons peanut oil

¼ cup sliced onion