Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Almond Crusted Chicken Strips

Do you have those days when you just can't wait to get into the kitchen and "create" something special? All kinds of ideas and ingredients are running through your head. This happened to me and yes, I am reporting directly to the 12-step program for ingredient abuse.
This started out as breaded chicken strips with a blanc sauce and turned into, I don't know...let me show you what happened. You call it -

Beat 1 egg add a splash of water and set your chicken strips in it (about 1 to 1-1/4 lbs. of chicken breast strips).
Combine 1/2 cup sliced almonds, 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs, 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper in a food processor and pulse to chop almonds and combine dry ingredients. Dredge chicken through the bread crumb mixture.

Heat 1/4 cup of canola oil in a a large over medium to medium high heat. Add strips and cook 3 minutes on each side, transfer to a paper towel lined plate and cover with foil and keep warm. Repeat with remaining chicken.
Once the chicken is cooked, remove all but 1 tablespoon of oil (there probably will not be much oil left in the pan), leave the debris in the skillet. Add 2 green onions finely chopped, 1 can of quartered, drained artichoke hearts, 4 cloves minced garlic and a couple of handfuls of baby bella mushrooms. Saute for about 3 to 4 minutes of medium-high heat.
Pour in 1/2 cup of dry white wine to the veggies and let this sizzle for a minute, then whisk in 1-1-/2 cup cream into the sauce. Lower the heat on the sauce and whisk in 4 tablespoons of cold butter into pot until it is completely blended. Remove from heat and season with salt to taste and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes.

Plate the strips and spoon a little "blanc" sauce down over top and garnish with crumbled feta cheese.

This dish got rave reviews from the homegirlz they picked out the shrooms and artichokes but were all over the chicken and cheese. My husband loved it too.
So go home and get crazy!


23 comments:

Donna-FFW said...

My kind of dish. Chicken, feta cheese, a couple of veggies, all put together rather quickly. I just love it. Pure genius!!

Carol Murdock said...

This sounds wonderful but I don't like Arichokes, would hearts of palm work as a subsitute?

gigi said...

Man, what a lovely combination of flavor. When your creative sides gets going it gets going. I can almost smell that through my computer screen. Yum!

Debbie said...

Now that looks great! I love the veggies in cream with wine. Love artichokes.

Anonymous said...

Anything with almonds is a hit at our house! I will definitely be making this soon. Thanks for a great recipe!

Rico said...

Really mouth watering I love any kind of recipe with mushrooms, and this one really is appetising ...cheers for sharing

Maria said...

What a tasty meal!!

Sophia Lee said...

this is a freaking amazing dish! would almond milk work instead of the cream?

Jennifer said...

I have never used almonds as breading before, but I am going to try it now! I love it when the creative bug hits and you just gotta cook!

pigpigscorner said...

What a great dish! The almond crust with that yummy sauce...delicious!

Pam said...

I love this and can't wait to try it out. Great recipe!

Dewi said...

Katherine,
You always come up with an amazing dish. Your almond crusted chicken strip is one of the many.
Cheers,
Elra

Anonymous said...

This looks delicious. I am huge fan of everything in this dish, I love it when that happens!

The Blonde Duck said...

You are my hero. Please move in and create dishes like this for me.

Reeni said...

I'm a fan too!! It looks positively delicious!! I love it when you go crazy like this!!

vanillasugarblog said...

I am so printing this one! Great combo here, really good.

Marjie said...

Ingredient abuse. Now that's funny!

Veronica said...

Love mushrooms!! That sounds like a fabulous dish for Valentines!!

pam said...

Every single thing in this dish sounds good!

priscilla joy said...

Boy, does this look sooo good. I love the feta cheese on top!

Greg C said...

mmmmmmmmmm that sounds soooo good. How do you expect me to diet when you do this. For valentines day I am making scallops in garlic butter and a mushroom sauce that will go on pasta. I am also going to make grilled asparagrass. I don't know how to spell it but I know how to cook it. LOL

Sara said...

This looks really delicious, I love crusted chicken strips, and I'm a huge almond fan.

Rico said...

delicious again and again, breaded chicken with almonds and mushroom sautéed lovely jobly...thx for sharing