Pan Roasted Chicken Breasts with Sauteed Spinach
Servings: 4 Servings
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon miring rice wine
- 2 inch piece fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 chicken breasts skinless
- flour for dredging
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- ¼ cup olive oil plus 1 tablespoon
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shavings
- 8 cups fresh spinach
- salt & pepper to taste
- aged balsamic vinegar
- lemon wedges for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450° F. While the oven is heating, gather and prep any ingredients that need to be prepped.
- Place a saucepan over medium-high heat and add the soy sauce, honey, rice wine, ginger, and water. Stir, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 20 seconds. Immediately remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Place the chicken breasts flat on a cutting board and carefully cut them in half horizontally to create four cutlets. If you are not comfortable cutting the breasts, ask your butcher to do this for you, but you can also purchase one of those special gloves that help prevent cutting yourself.
- Flatten the chicken cutlets to ¼ inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. This aims to tenderize the chicken meat and ensure even cooking. In addition, I usually place the cutlet between two pieces of wax paper to lessen the post-pounding cleanup.
- Add some flour to a shallow bowl, season with salt and pepper, and dredge the chicken cutlets in the flour. Be sure to shake off any excess flour before cooking.
- Heat a large fry pan over medium heat. When hot, add ¼ cup of olive oil. When the oil’s hot, add the chicken cutlets being careful not to crowd the pan. If necessary, cook in batches.
- You’ll start by pan frying the cutlets on one side for about 3 minutes until they are golden brown.
- Add the garlic clove, flip the chicken cutlets over and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Remove the cutlets from the pan and transfer them to a baking dish. Pour the marinade over the chicken cutlets and then cover with Parmesan shavings.
- Place the baking dish into the oven and bake for 8 minutes or until the cheese melts and starts to brown. Don’t let the cheese burn.
- While the chicken is in the oven, wipe out the frying pan with a paper towel, and return the pan to the stove over medium-high heat. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and garlic clove. As soon as the oil is hot, add the spinach and saute until the spinach wilts. This should take no more than a couple of minutes—season with salt and pepper to taste.
- To serve, divide the spinach between four plates, add the cutlets, and drizzle the chicken and spinach with some aged balsamic vinegar.
- Place a lemon wedge on each plate. I like a squeeze of lemon on my spinach, but if your guests don’t, it still looks nice.
Notes
We served this dish with some couscous made with corn and carrots.