Monday, November 8, 2010

Pecan Crusted Chicken with Blue Cheese Sauce

Tonight I tried a brand new recipe, one that I came up on my own.  Pecan crusted chicken with a blue cheese sauce.  When I was thinking about how to make this, I knew that the chicken part wouldn't be too bad.  It'd just be like making a breaded chicken which I have recently mastered.  The blue cheese sauce part was going to be tricky though.  At first I considered using the food processor to make it more like a sauce instead of just chunks of cheese.  In the end, I decided to melt it and add milk.  I had to add some flour too to help it thicken.  The meal was really delicious and easy.  Slightly messy because of the coating the chicken, but it was worth it.

Here's the recipe:
 Serves 2.
About 1/2 cup of chopped pecans
2 chicken breasts
1 egg - beaten
flour
About 1/4 cup of Blue cheese crumbles
milk (a little less than 1/4 cup)
Grape oil - enough to lightly fry the chicken in a shallow layer

Method: Roast the pecans if not previously roasted.  (I wasn't sure if I was going to do this, but I tried some and they tasted raw, so I went ahead and roasted them).  To roast, just place the nuts in a dry (no oil) pan on medium heat.  Shake/stir occasionally so they don't burn.  Takes about 5 minutes.  (I went by smell, once I could smell them I took them off the heat).

Coat the chicken in flour and then dredge it in the egg.  Then coat with pecans.  Heat grape oil over med-low heat. Cook and cover.  Turn chicken after about 8 minutes.  Add more grape oil if needed.  Be careful flipping so the pecans don't fall off.  Cook until chicken is cooked through about 20 minutes total.

For the sauce, in a small skillet, mix the cheese and milk over med-low heat.  Whisk together as cheese begins to melt.  Add flour to thicken sauce.  Bring to boil and reduce heat.  Sauce will thicken.  (Be careful I turned off the heat at this point but wasn't quite ready to prepare the meal and after a few minutes the sauce was pretty thick).

Serve the chicken with the sauce over it.  Enjoy!