Chicken Breast With Fresh Sage Recipes

SAUTEED CHICKEN BREAST WITH WHOLE GRAIN MUSTARD AND SAGE

Steps:

• Preheat a large skillet over medium-heat, for about 1 minute or until the surface of the pan is uniformly hot. While the pan heats pat the chicken dry, and season the skin-side with salt and pepper. Spread flour onto a plate and lightly dredge the chicken in the flour to coat. Shake off the excess flour. Add the oil to the pan. Lay the chicken skin side down into the pan and saute over high heat for 1 minute. Lower the heat to medium-high and cook the chicken until browned, about 3 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon butter to the pan. Turn the breasts over and cook for another 5 to 8 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Remove chicken from the pan to a plate and keep warm while you make the sauce.
• Add the white wine or the vermouth to the pan, and with a wooden spoon, scrape up the browned bits that have collected on the pan. (This is called deglazing the pan.) Cook the wine until syrupy over high heat, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth, the sage, and reduce the sauce by 1/4 or until thickened. Off the heat, whisk in 1 to 3 tablespoons butter and the mustard, to enrich, flavor, and thicken the sauce. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce onto a serving platter or divide among 4 plates, put chicken on the sauce, and serve.
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• Cook's Note: For a cream sauce add 2 to 4 tablespoons cream to the sauce after the broth has reduced.

CHICKEN BREASTS WITH SAGE

Steps:

• Put the oil in a deep skillet or flameproof casserole, preferably nonstick, with a lid. Turn the heat to medium-high and wait a minute or so, until the oil is hot. Add the garlic and half the sage, then the chicken, skin side down, and brown it well, rotating the pieces as necessary (you don't really have to brown the bone side); the process will take 5 to 10 minutes. Turn the meat browned side up and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
• Add the remaining sage, along with the 1/4 cup vinegar and the stock. Turn the heat down to low and cover; cook until the chicken is tender and no trace of blood remains near the bone, 15 minutes or so.
• Transfer the chicken to a warm platter and, if the sauce is thin, raise the heat to high, stirring and reducing the sauce as necessary until it is thick and glossy, just a few minutes. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper. Spoon the sauce over the chicken, garnish, and serve.
• Boneless Chicken Breasts with Sage
• Start with 4 pieces of boneless breast, about 1 1/2 pounds. Add the garlic and sage (all at once) and brown the breasts well on both sides, adjusting the heat and rotating and turning the pieces as necessary until done, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a platter and add the 1/4 cup vinegar or lemon juice along with 1/4 cup water. Cook, stirring and scraping with a wooden spoon to incorporate any solids into the sauce. If you like, stir in 1 tablespoon butter at this point to enrich the sauce. Add the remaining vinegar or lemon juice, taste and adjust the seasoning, and serve.
• Chicken Breasts with Mint
• You can use this variation with either bone-in or boneless breasts. Substitute 1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves for the sage. Add half of them, along with a teaspoon of sugar, when you first turn the chicken breasts (after one side has been browned). Add the other half to the sauce after removing the chicken.

SEARED SAGE-MARINATED BREAST OF CHICKEN

Steps:

• Place two chicken pieces between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them lightly with the smooth side of a meat mallet or small, heavy skillet to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.
• Lay two or three sage leaves on one side of each breast and fasten them to the breast with a toothpick, weaving in and out as if you were taking a stitch (see opposite). The toothpicks should lie flat. (Or, if you don't have toothpicks, tap the sage leaves with the dull edge of a knife to make them adhere to the chicken.) Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper and lay them in a baking sheet into which they fit comfortably. Rub both sides of the chicken breasts with the oil. Whack the garlic cloves with the flat side of a knife and scatter them over the chicken. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
• Heat one or two large nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron skillets over medium-high heat. Add as many of the chicken pieces, sage side down, as will fit in a single layer. Cook until well browned on the underside, about 2 minutes. Turn the chicken and cook until the second side is browned and no trace of pink remains in the center, 1 to 2 minutes. (If you don't have enough pans, or large enough pans, to cook the chicken in one batch, keep the first batch of chicken warm on a baking sheet in an oven turned to the lowest setting while cooking the remaining chicken.) Serve immediately.