Posted on: Wednesday, May 11, 2005
RECIPE DOCTOR
How to liven up your chicken dish
By Elaine Magee
For a limited time, the Elephant Bar restaurant chain is offering a very posh-sounding chicken entree. It even has a couple of French words in the title — buerre blanc (which loosely translated means "white butter sauce.") macadamia nuts and langoustines (a shrimp cousin) finish off the entree.
To lighten this dish up, I sauteed skinless chicken breasts (seasoned with freshly ground salt and pepper) in a minimum or canola or olive oil. Then I made a quick butter sauce with a couple of tablespoons of whipped butter, fat-free half and half and finely minced sweet onion. To serve this unique entree, I topped each beautiful browned chicken breast with a blanket of the butter sauce and sprinkled each with some cooked shrimp and coarsely chopped macadamia nuts. Even though this dish looks and tastes like you've worked hard in the kitchen, you can actually whip it up in about 20 minutes!
Serve over steamed brown or white rice if desired.
Original recipe might contain around 422 calories, 32 grams saturated fat, and 175-mg cholesterol per serving.
MACADAMIA NUT CHICKEN BUERRE BLANC WITH SWEET LANGOUSTINES
Start heating a large, nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the tablespoon of oil and tilt pan to coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, add the four chicken breasts and sprinkle with freshly ground salt and pepper to taste. Cover pan, and saute about 6-8 minutes on each side (or until chicken is cooked throughout in the thickest part of the breast.)
While chicken is cooking, add the butter and sweet onion to a small, nonstick saucepan over medium heat and let the butter brown slightly, stirring frequently (about 2 minutes). Slowly pour the fat free half-and-half into the butter mixture in saucepan while stirring with a whisk and let this come to a gently boil for about a minute. Remove from heat and stir in a pinch or two of cayenne red pepper.
To serve the entree, top each chicken breast with a fourth of the buerre blanc sauce then spoon a fourth of the shrimp meat on top of the sauce and a fourth of the macadamia nuts over the shrimp.
Makes 4 servings.
• Per serving (not including cooked rice): 294 calories, 32 g protein, 3 g carbohydrate, 15 g fat, 4.5 g saturated fat, 9.6 g monounsaturated fat, 1.3 g polyunsaturated fat, 119 mg cholesterol, .5 g fiber, 161 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 46 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids. .4 g Omega-6 fatty acids. .9 g Weight Watchers points 7. Elaine Magee's new book is "Fry Light, Fry Right." Reach her at doctor@recipedoctor.com. Personal responses can't be provided. This column is distributed by the Knight Ridder News Service.
