Fancy Dinner: Chicken Français

As I sit here typing, my house is filled with ricanant (giggling) as my husband gets my exhausted and overstuffed four-and-a-half year old to bed. We had "fancy dinner" tonight, as we call it.

I'm usually happiest on these nights. It means I'm putting an effort forth to do our favorite and our most elaborate foods. It means we're using the linens, the silver, the china... Even my pre-schooler gets a champagne flute, usually of apple juice but today we had Orangina.

I initially planned chicken for dinner, but I hadn't given much thought to exactly what recipe. I wanted chicken with grape nuts, but without the cereal I could not. I knew it would end up being chicken français or chicken with rosemary and pepper (both French style cuisine). Then I thought about adding a simple sautéed broccoli. And I noticed the Vouvray, all alone in my wine rack, the quality $10 a bottle Vouvray I can afford these days. If you're breaking out the table wine, might as well call an impromptu "fancy dinner."

And so it goes.

Now before you criticize my table setting, keep in mind, my kid did it. She set the table, selected the table cloth and even the napkins. We use cloth napkins every meal, so we've got quite the collection. The point of fancy dinner is to use the "good stuff" because my stepmother has instilled in me a sense of "what's-the-good-of-having-it-if-you're-not-going-to-use-it." That applies to everything except her living room rug. Family legend still tells of the day my husband spilled Coke on the sacred rug and my dad thought my stepmom would go get his gun(s).

Fancy dinner also reminds us all of our manners, makes us all slow down and enjoy the process of our food, and hopefully gives my daughter a sense of occasion, which should not be reserved for days labeled special.

I started this endeavor with about 1.25 pounds of chicken breast tenders, boneless and skinless. Yeah, I know that's not the cheap way to do it but meat is gross to me and the only way I can cook it is to pretend I'm a French chef.

Chicken Français from Cooks.com
1.5 pounds chicken;
2 eggs, lightly beaten;
3/4 cup flour;
salt and pepper;
2 TB oil;
2 TB butter plus TB more butter
Juice of one lemon

1. pound chicken cutlets until thin
2. dip in egg and dredge in flour, salt and pepper. (I skipped the egg and sprinkled fresh ground sea salt on one side, then ground peppercorn medley on the other, then dredged in flour.)
3. In large skillet, heat 2 TB butter and 2 TB oil. Cook chicken on both sides. Remove to platter and keep warm in oven.
4. Add TB butter and lemon juice to skillet. Combine and pour over chicken. Garnish with parsley if desired.

Now, I reserved some of the sauce. I tossed in about 1/2 a clove of sliced garlic, sautéed for a minute, and then added blanched broccoli. It tasted incredible.