Thursday, September 23, 2010

Healthy Roasted Chicken Breast with Vegetable Puree Parmigiana ~ Take that Mother Nature!


From here on out...everyday over 80 degrees I'm taking very personally. I thought Mother Nature and I had an agreement. She would end the summer of 2010 and I would throw away my favorite pink flip-flops with severely worn out soles!  I upheld my end of the bargain... so what's the deal?

Just to spite her today, I cranked the AC, threw on jeans and a sweater, lit a pumpkin scented candle, leisurely flipped through Martha's October issue and finally... I roasted the crap out of my kitchen!

That's right, it was with great acrimony that I threw into a 400 degree oven, whatever I could get my hands on!  Chicken breast, apples, leeks, peppers, onions, garlic, herbs!  If its flavor was heightened and condensed after subjected to extreme heat...it was in that roasting pan!

So...Mother Nature...if you're reading...though you may find these "Indian Summers" cute... I do not.  Behold the result of my protest (unusual as it is) and know that tomorrow (despite your 90 degree intentions) ...I'll be sipping hot cider while outside planting mums!

Healthy Roasted Chicken Breast with Vegetable Puree Parmigiana *resulted after a roasting rampage, yearning for fall weather.
Early in the day place your boneless, skinless, chicken chicken breast (1-2 lbs) in a brine of water, bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a bay leaf. (Enough liquid just to cover the chicken). Refrigerate until ready to cook. (sorry no exact measurements here but you get the drift.)

Vegetable Puree
3 small onions, halved
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 leeks, rinsed well and cut into 2 inch pieces
2 poblano peppers, seeded and cut into 4's
1 apple, peeled and halved
Olive Oil
Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper


Preheat oven to 400.  Line roasting pan with aluminum foil.  Place all ingredients in pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper, mix all around then place in single layer. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until soft and looks like this:


Add it all to a food processor and pulse until smooth (should resemble a pea puree like color and texture) At this point you could do ANYTHING with this puree! It would be awesome on crusty bread, turned into a soup, or would make an amazing pasta sauce! It's earthy, a bit spicy with a sweetness on the back end.  Here I am trying to keep it- LOW CARB!

Turn oven down to 350.

Remove chicken breast from brine and place in same pan still lined with the foil. Salt and pepper the chicken and cover with more foil. Cook in the oven approximately 25 minutes or until chicken internal temp reaches 160. Remove chicken and let rest 5-10 minutes.

Turn on broiler.

Cut chicken into strips, spoon sauce over chicken, top with cheese and place under broiler until melted (1-3 minutes) Eat as shown above or as a sandwich like my husband enjoyed here:

15 comments:

sweetlife said...

i'm with ya, mother nature is killing me here in Texas the heat/humidity..oh goodness, love your puree, yummy

sweetlife

Katerina said...

I love all the veggies you used for this puree. I guess with all our activities we have driven the weather crazy.

chow and chatter said...

oh this is great and your post made me smile lol

Clint said...

Ummm. Yummy. Here in north Texas, we're supposed to get cooler weather this weekend. I hope so. But the real reason I'm writing is to ask what time we should be there for din-din....

Clint

Erin said...

You need buttons for "like," "love," and "drool" on here! I click "drool"

Mary Bergfeld said...

You do know that the battle with Mother Nature is stacked against you, right?
I have been known to have a fire in the fireplace while the air conditioner is still running, so your behavior seems perfectly normal to me :-). Your chicken sounds wonderfully delicious. Have a great weekend. Blessings...Mary

Unknown said...

We are alike, I live in San Diego though so sometimes the stove just has to be on! ha

Sounds like a nice day to me!

Cindy Ellison said...

You naturally have a talent for cooking ... a special gift. I think I would love this dish! Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

I know Mary...I will never win when it comes to fighting with Mother Nature and she did give us a beautiful wedding day so I can't be too mad at her, but I thought I best let her know how I feel.

Cindy-not sure it's a talent as I mess up in the kitchen WAY too much! It's a passion so many of us share!

Thanks for all your comments!

Gabrielle said...

I love the comments everyone leaves on this blog! I WISH I could throw a dinner party for all of you but we are all so far away! Anyway, Mother Nature can be, well (ahem) a bitch. 95 degrees at the end of September in NJ? UNACCEPTABLE. Indian Summer is supposed to come in OCTOBER. CRANK UP THE AIR and LIGHT A FIRE. But please, don't tell Mother Nature I called her a bitch!

Karen said...

Ha! I know what you mean...I hate the back and forth. Just gimme 50 degrees, already! (And too bad about your flip flops...next year, not so soon!)
All your roasting looks like it paid off though...looks great.

Simply Life said...

oh that looks amazing!

Syd said...

I'll take two of those, RIGHT NOW, please.

I love those "I'm gonna roast every-damn-thing" days.

Joanne said...

haha hysterical! And totally accurate depiction of how I feel about summer! I am ready to eat pumpkin without feeling like I am going to sweat it all out of my system within five minutes. And roast veggies without feeling guilty for steaming up my kitchen! This looks awesome. I'm going to have to make it to show summer that this is no joking matter.

Pam said...

Please send some of the heat this way!!! It's very chilly this morning and the heat is on. Love how you took out your spite on Mother Nature! Your chicken sounds delicious. It's definitely filled with lots of good flavor!