Unique Chicken

Good evening and welcome back to Out of the Culinary!  Our goal here on the blog is to provide healthy, and relatively simple, recipes that are easy to duplicate for you and yours.  I think sometimes there are titles of recipes that tend to deter people from cooking them because of what it has in it.  Tonight is no exception - with beer in the title, most would shy away from the alcoholic persuasion.  But, in fact, it's another flavor component of an incredibly easy recipe.  

The Recipe:  Chicken with Honey-Beer Sauce
Original Recipe Found In:  Cooking Light, September 2012

What You'll Need:

2 Teaspoons Canola Oil
4 (6 Ounce) Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast halves
1/4 Teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons thinly sliced Shallots
1/2 Cup Beer (an inexpensive, full flavored beer will do)
2 Tablespoons lower-sodium Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon whole-grain Dijon Mustard
1 Tablespoon Honey
2 Tablespoons fresh flat-leaf Parsley leaves (optional)

To start, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Add the oil to the pan and swirl to coat.  Sprinkle the chicken evenly with salt and pepper.  Once the skillet is hot, add the chicken to the pan, saute the chicken for six minutes on each side, until the chicken reads 160 degrees with a meat thermometer.  Remove the chicken from the pan.  Keep warm by covering with foil on a plate.

Perfectly browned chicken

Next, add the shallots to the pan.  Cook the shallots for one minute or until translucent.  In a small bowl, combine the beer, soy sauce, dijon mustard, and honey and whisk until thoroughly combined.  Add the beer combination and bring to a boil, scraping the pan to loosen any brown bits.  Cook for three minutes or until the liquid is reduced to a half a cup.  If you are concerned about using alcohol for this dish, the majority of the alcohol will be cooked out and only the flavor will be left behind.  Also, most grocery stores sell individual bottles of beer, so you don't have to buy more than one and not use the other five.

Such a unique blend of flavors into one pan

Remove the chicken from under the foil and return to the skillet.  Turn the chicken to coat with the sauce.  Sprinkle evenly with parsley, serve, and enjoy!

The End Result:

The chicken is moist and juicy, which is the great basis for any chicken dish.  The sauce is well, quite something else.  The combination of shallots, beer, soy sauce, mustard, and honey is very delicious.  The beer and mustard flavor is definitely cooked out.  But the honey, and hints of soy sauce, is what amp up the sauce to a whole new level.  It's the perfect combination of sweet and tart and neither are too strong, which is perfect for a coating sauce, such as this.  The best part of this dish?  Each chicken breast is 245 calories, so it's a light dish with plenty of flavor to spare.

That's all we have for you this evening.  Join us Thursday as Tyler takes to the kitchen with brand new recipe.  Until then,

~Cheers!