Balsamic Chicken With Baby Spinach

"This was so delicious, elegant looking, and really quite easy. Nice last minute company dish. I served this over couscous cooked it in chicken broth and drizzled with olive oil to add extra flavor. Wild rice, brown rice, or orzo pasta would also be nice with this. Whichever you choose, toss with a little olive oil, salt & pepper or season however you prefer. My version of an Ellie Krieger recipe."
 
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photo by HeatherFeather photo by HeatherFeather
photo by HeatherFeather
photo by HeatherFeather photo by HeatherFeather
Ready In:
25mins
Ingredients:
10
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
  • Add the olive oil and garlic and cook about 1 minute.
  • Very lightly season chicken with a bit of salt and a hearty grinding of pepper.
  • Add the chicken to the pan and cook about 4-6 minutes per side, or until cooked through and juices run clear (time will vary based on thickness of your chicken pieces).
  • Remove the chicken, jkeep warm, and set aside.
  • To the same pan, add the spinach and cook just until barely wilted, about 1 to 2 minutes.
  • Remove from the pan and set aside.
  • Lower the heat to medium and add the balsamic vinegar and chicken broth to the pan and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove any browned bits.
  • Add the tomatoes, raise heat and cook until reduced to your liking, about 3 to 5 minutes, seasoning to taste with pepper and salt if desired.
  • To serve, set out your seasoned couscous, orzo or rice on a platter, then sprinkle the spinach over the top, then place chicken on top of the spinach and drizzle with the balsamic tomatoes.
  • There isn't a ton of sauce, so if you like things very saucy, you may wish to make extra sauce (I was happy with the amount as listed though).

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Reviews

  1. HeatherFeather, this is a lovely recipe! It's healthy, fast, and delicious! The only things I did different were to cut the chicken up before cooking and doubled the sauce because, well, I'm a saucy girl. DH really enjoyed this as well. It definitely goes in the "keeper" file. Thanks again!
     
  2. I just made two chicken breasts since it was just myself and my husband, but I used more than half of the bag of baby spinach and fresh tomatoes instead of canned. Like the previous reviewer, I also had a problem with burning garlic so I added a bit of water to the pan. This stopped the garlic from burning any further and helped the chicken cook faster.
     
  3. I can't leave stars because I took too many liberties with this one! But I will say that it made an excellent starting off point for tonight's dinner. Sauteed garlic and shitake mushrooms in the oil. Added chicken breasts, sprinkled with spicy pepper medley as my pepper mill mysteriously stopped working mid-recipe. Eech. Chicken was very thick and the garlic was burning, so I added a little chicken broth and a generous splash of white wine to the pan and covered with a lid so they sort of steam-fried cooked. Worked a treat! Popped the chicken and mushrooms in the oven to stay warm. Did up the spinach, added a little more chicken broth to get some steam going. Popped that in the oven too. Added rest of the broth, a generous pour of balsamic (really, who's measuring these days?) and instead of canned tomatoes (cupboard was bare) I added a generous pour of this new creamy tomato vodka sauce that I'd been wanting to try. Oh my. The sauce! The sauce was *amazing*. Rich and smoky and lovely. Pulled the whole mess out of the oven, laid out some pasta, topped with spinach, topped with chicken and the sauce. I have to say, the mushrooms did nothing for it, white mushrooms would probably taste better. And the spinach part was 'ok'. I wasn't totally in love with it, but it was a nice big helping of veggies so I didn't hate it either...but I bet it would be fantastic with some sauteed zucchini in place of the spinach. I will have to try that this summer as the zuke crop starts rolling in. All in all, this is a lovely recipe that lends itself well to playing, which is exactly what I wanted to do tonight. Yum. Was thoroughly enjoyed by DH as well, who has already packed away the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
     
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