Chicken Dinner

I clearly have not gotten the hang of photography in my new kitchen yet. I never thought I would, but oh how I miss the clean blue light of my Viking range hood. Nevertheless dinners are inching up to our old standard.

Tonight I offered James creamy parmesan polenta topped with a pan fried chicken breast cutlet, coated in panko crumbs and plenty of fresh herbs. On the side a sautéed tangle of Romano beans scored at the nearby farmers market. Working loosely off a recipe from Chez Panisse I started some olive oil heating in a pan and flavored it by letting chopped shallot and garlic sauté in the oil for about 3 minutes. I removed the aromatics and added in the beans, cut in to 2 inch lengths, along with a sprig of rosemary, some dried oregano and fresh thyme (the original recipe called for only fresh oregano but we didn't have any)-- and tossed it all around in the oil (here and there) for about 10 minutes until they were just tender and brown in spots. Then I added back in the garlic and shallots along with two small chopped tomatoes and cooked the mixture for about 2 minutes more. After cooling for a minute or so I drizzled the beans with about a tsp of balsamic vinegar and served the dish room temperature over the hot polenta.

James went back for seconds.