Chicken Breast with Bacon Pan Sauce

Here is a recipe I have been making for a couple of years from Nigella’s book, Nigella Express.  If you want some great ideas for fast weeknight cooking and you like to use just a few simple, fresh ingredients, this book is for you.  This dish takes about the same amount of time as baking a Totino’s Party Pizza, you decide which one sounds better.    Serves 4

• 4 chicken breasts, split horizontally into 8 cutlets.
• 3 t. olive oil, divided
• salt and pepper
• 4 slices of bacon, chopped – end pieces work well for this and they are less expensive
• 1/2 C. white wine

Heat the oven to 300 degrees.  Cut the chicken breasts horizontally into thin cutlets.  Season liberally with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Heat 2 t. of the oil in a skillet to medium heat (don’t use a non-stick skillet for this- you need some sticking to the bottom to create those browned bits you need for the sauce) and fry the bacon pieces until golden.  Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and wrap in a piece of foil.  In the pan with the bacon drippings, cook the chicken cutlets until golden brown.  This takes about 2-3 minutes per side.  Don’t try to flip the chicken over and over, you will never get the golden brown color and flavor you want.  Leave it alone, flip it once!  You may need to cook the chicken in two batches.  If your pan seems too dry, add another teaspoon of oil.  When the chicken is done, remove it to a platter and place in a 300 degree oven while you make the pan sauce (about 5 minutes).  In the hot pan with all the drippings, pour the wine in and let it bubble up.  Scrape all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Stir and simmer about two minutes.  To finish the dish, sprinkle the bacon over the chicken and pour the pan sauce over the whole thing.

We ate this with some beautiful, thin asparagus.  The asparagus was almost as cute as my husband prepping it for the pot!

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