December 23, 2009 Dear Friends, Pulling off supper at this time of year is often a case of waiting for the pizza delivery, but if you're up for some quick food from your own hands, a skillet roast is a great way to feed yourself and who ever else you want to invite around the table. Leftovers are to be wished for. Hopefully this dish will open up entertaining possibilities for the whole season, no matter what you are celebrating. Skillet-Roasted Chicken Breasts with Potatoes Reprinted with permission from The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook: 2001-2010 (America's Test Kitchen, October 2009). Copyright © 2009 by the Editors at America's Test Kitchen. Serves 4 To complete the recipe in 30 minutes, preheat your oven before assembling the ingredients. If the split breasts are different sizes, check the smaller ones a few minutes early and remove them from the oven if they are done. - 4 (10- to 12-ounce) bone-in, split chicken breasts
- Table salt and ground black pepper
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 1-½ pounds red potatoes (4 to 5 medium), cut into 1-inch wedges
- 2 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon
- 1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
- Pinch red pepper flakes
1. Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. 2. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the chicken, skin side down, and cook until deep golden, about 5 minutes. 3. Meanwhile, toss the potatoes with 1 more tablespoon of the oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high power until the potatoes begin to soften, 5 to 10 minutes, shaking the bowl (without removing the plastic) to toss the potatoes halfway through. 4. Transfer the chicken, skin side up, to a baking dish and bake until the thickest part of the breasts registers 160 to 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 15 to 20 minutes. 5. While the chicken bakes, pour off any fat in the skillet, add 1 tablespoon more oil, and return to medium heat until shimmering. Drain the microwaved potatoes, then add to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and tender, about 10 minutes. 6. Whisk the remaining 3 tablespoons oil, the lemon juice, garlic, thyme, and red pepper flakes together. Drizzle the oil mixture over the chicken and potatoes before serving. Why This Recipe Works: Roasted chicken and potatoes are a favorite combination for Sunday dinner. But on a busy weeknight, who has time to prepare a meal that requires at least an hour in the oven? We wanted to come up with a skillet preparation that would give us juicy, tender chicken and crispy potatoes in about half an hour. To start, we borrowed the restaurant method of browning meat on the stovetop and finishing it in the oven. We swapped in bone-in split breasts for the whole chicken and seared the chicken in a skillet. This turned the skin nicely brown and crisp. Next, we transferred the chicken to a baking dish in the oven to finish cooking through. Meanwhile, we turned to the potatoes. We chose red potatoes because their skins are tender and don't require peeling. This saved some prep time, but we couldn't get them to cook in the same amount of time as the chicken. The microwave turned out to be the solution: while the chicken was browning, we tossed the potatoes with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper and microwaved them for a few minutes to jump-start the cooking process. Placing the potatoes in a single layer in the skillet — the same one on which we'd browned the chicken — helped them cook up creamy and moist inside while their exteriors became crispy and caramelized, just when it was time to take the chicken out of the oven. Before serving, we drizzled a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, red pepper flakes, and thyme over our chicken and potatoes for an extra hit of moisture and flavor. In about half an hour, we had re-created the great flavors of a Sunday roast chicken dinner. LYNNE'S TIPS The trick of jump-starting the cooking of foods that take longer to cook is a good one. Use it with other vegetables that you want to roast such as chunks of squash, carrots,turnips, rutabaga and such. Just microwave a few minutes then spread out on a shallow sheet pan to finish roasting in the oven. Keep an eye out for yellow or red turnips; they are sweeter and milder than the traditional varieties and taste great mashed with a little butter and nutmeg. THOUGHTS FROM LYNNE Among 2009's crop of new culinary books are two memoirs you might want to check out for yourself or for others: One is The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious—and Perplexing—City by David Lebovitz (Broadway Books, 2009). The other is Confections of a Closet Master Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado (Broadway Books, 2009). Both include some good recipes. However you celebrate this season, may it be filled with people you care about, lots of laughter and lots of good cheer. Happy Holidays from all of us at The Splendid Table, Judy Budreau, Judy Graham, Jenny Luebke, Lynne Rossetto Kasper, Jennifer Russell and Sally Swift Copyright 2009, Lynne Rossetto Kasper.
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