Sometimes you want to get creative in the kitchen, sometimes you just want a surefire success that will take you through the days (weeks, months …) when working from home always works. Enter these chicken dishes, easy enough to answer homework questions from the kids and keep up with the slack chatter that still goes on after 6pm, and impressive enough to deserve credit for how hard you try, everyone keep healthy and happy.
These five picks, most from our “8 & $ 20” line of weekday recipes, even offer a homemade alternative to a delivery favorite if you feel guilty about ordering takeout in the past six nights. And of course, affordable wine pairings to make every meal feel a little more special, even if it’s the 415th straight dinner you’ve had at home while waiting to finally get a sitter back.
8 & $ 20: Chicken in a creamy mushroom and white wine sauce
Alcohol, like salt, enhances the taste of food. This recipe for chicken breasts cooked in white wine and cream of mushroom soup is a good example. As the chicken browns in a generous piece of melting butter, the kitchen fills with the flavors of wine and mushrooms, and the final meal looks and tastes more gourmet than it actually is. In truth, it’s easy and comforting enough to be the first recipe a student learns after moving away from home.
The white wine used here shouldn’t be expensive, but it should be something you enjoy drinking. A light to medium-bodied Italian white, a Greco di Tufo from the southern Italian region of Campania, weighed just enough to go with the cream sauce without the pairing feeling heavy.
8 & $ 20: Sheet-Pan Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar and Brussels Sprouts
Sheet metal recipes are great for the busy cook for many reasons: Minimal time in front of the stove and maximum versatility with fewer dishes to clean. This recipe is ready in under an hour. Most of it is waited while the food is being roasted in the oven. And the simple blend of olive oil and balsamic vinegar that promotes caramelization can be used to add dimension to numerous other combinations of meat and vegetables.
You should end up with crispy skinned chicken and very tender vegetables. The roasted Brussels sprout leaves are then thrown into honey while it is still hot, which helps to round off the flavors of their charred vinegar exterior and to combine them with the wine: A young, light Sangiovese from Italy with fragrant herbal notes. With the extra easy cleaning, you can relax and enjoy the pairing!
Jacques Pépins Chicken Suprêmes in Persillade
Although this recipe has a quirky name and comes from a famous French chef, it contains only six ingredients (excluding salt, pepper and water) and cooks in less than 10 minutes. It comes from Jacques Pépin’s 2017 book A Grandfather’s Lessons: In the Kitchen with Shorey, which he wrote together with his then 13-year-old granddaughter Shorey Wesen and tested recipes. The book contains healthy recipes accessible to inexperienced chefs, as well as tips on simple food etiquette. “My grandfather chose it as something that we can do together,” explained Wesen, “as something that he can teach me and that I would like to learn.”
To show her that the white meat of chicken and turkey can be really flavourful and moist, Pépin opted for this dish, which is sautéed on high heat for no more than six minutes and then served with persillade, a provincial mix of garlic, parsley and Spring onions being dressed. He recommends an easy-to-drink red blend of Beaujolais or Côtes du Rhône.
Chinese take-away chicken with charred garlic beans
When hearty, crispy chicken meets a sweet, sticky sauce in Chinese-American classics like sesame chicken and General Tso’s, the results are irresistible. If you want to mimic home style without deep frying, this recipe is the solution. Add in a low-maintenance side of beans that you roast while you cook the rice to perfection, and you have a delicious dish that cuts down some calories.
The sauce consists of pantry staples and offers plenty of scope for substitutions. Just keep the key components of sweet, savory and spicy. This makes a Riesling, like a dry bottling from New York’s Finger Lakes, a classic wine pairing. The high acidity of the wine offsets the richness of the sauce, while flavors and aromas of tropical fruits and orchards give an impression of sweetness to counteract the heat of the dish. Take a glass and a pair of chopsticks and dig into them.
8 & $ 20: Grilled Chicken with Spicy Mango Salsa
This dish was inspired by street food in Los Angeles, where vendors season fresh, juicy tropical fruit with a tangy lime salt – a combination of flavors perfect for a savory salsa with chicken breasts. This meal requires minimal cooking time, perhaps 15 minutes in front of the stove, although shredding fruits and vegetables does require a little more work. Reduce prep time by purchasing pre-cut pieces of peeled mango and further dicing them to the size you want. You can make the salsa the day before and the chicken can marinate overnight. For dinner, all you need to do is sear the meat in a pan or on a grill.
For a refreshing combination with the heat in this dish, a Sauvignon Blanc from the Russian river valley of Sonoma offered thirst-quenching aromas of citrus and tropical fruits as well as light herbal accents that go well with the ingredients of the salsa. Warm up some tortillas and serve next to them!
