{"id":200902,"date":"2019-02-05T02:28:58","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T07:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=200902"},"modified":"2019-02-05T02:28:58","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T07:28:58","slug":"rethinking-chicken-florentine-with-clearer-brighter-flavours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/02\/05\/rethinking-chicken-florentine-with-clearer-brighter-flavours\/","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking Chicken Florentine with clearer, brighter flavours"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Chicken Florentine is a buffet-line favourite featuring chicken breast and spinach in a mild cream-and-Parmesan sauce-sometimes stuffed inside, sometimes stacked on top. (File Photo<\/a>: Beth\/ Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chicken Florentine is a buffet-line favourite featuring chicken breast and spinach in a mild cream-and-Parmesan sauce\u2014sometimes stuffed inside, sometimes stacked on top. All of these components are good, but this dish can often be stodgy (think old-fashioned casserole) or fussy (involving dredging chicken in flour and sauteeing).<\/p>\n

We wanted a simplified recipe for an elegant dish with clearer, brighter flavours. Braising was the perfect technique to achieve this: For flavour, we seared the chicken breasts first, cooked aromatics and added our cooking liquid (a balanced mix of water and chicken broth enriched with a modest amount of cream), and then simmered the chicken in the reducing sauce until perfectly cooked.<\/p>\n

After we topped the tender chicken with some sauteed spinach and the cream sauce, it needed just a quick run under the broiler to become appealingly golden on top. We like tender, quick-cooking bagged baby spinach here; if using curly-leaf spinach, chop it before cooking.<\/p>\n

CHICKEN FLORENTINE<\/p>\n

Servings: 4-6<\/p>\n

Start to finish: 45 minutes<\/p>\n

2 tablespoons vegetable oil<\/p>\n

12 ounces (12 cups) baby spinach<\/p>\n

4 (6-ounce) boneless, skinless<\/p>\n

chicken breasts, trimmed<\/p>\n

Salt and pepper<\/p>\n

1 shallot, minced<\/p>\n

2 garlic cloves, minced<\/p>\n

1 1\/4 cups chicken broth<\/p>\n

1 1\/4 cups water<\/p>\n

1 cup heavy cream<\/p>\n

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest plus<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon juice<\/p>\n

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat broiler. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add spinach and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer spinach to colander set over bowl and press with spoon to release excess liquid; discard liquid.<\/p>\n

Pat chicken breasts dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Wipe out pan with paper towels and heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook chicken on both sides until golden, about 4 minutes. Add shallot and garlic to skillet and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in broth, water, and cream and bring to boil.<\/p>\n

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes; transfer chicken to large plate and tent with aluminum foil. Continue to simmer sauce until reduced to 1 cup, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in 1\/4 cup Parmesan and lemon zest and juice.<\/p>\n

Cut breasts crosswise into 1\/2-inch-thick slices and arrange on broiler-safe platter. Scatter spinach over chicken and pour sauce over spinach. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan and broil until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Nutrition information per serving: 334 calories; 208 calories from fat; 23 g fat (11 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 128 mg cholesterol; 400 mg sodium; 5 g carbohydrate; 2 g fiber; 1 g sugar; 25 g protein.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

For more recipes, cooking tips and ingredient and product reviews, visit https:\/\/www.americastestkitchen.com<\/a>. Find more recipes like Chicken Florentine in \u201cHow to Braise Everything .\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chicken Florentine is a buffet-line favourite featuring chicken breast and spinach in a mild cream-and-Parmesan sauce\u2014sometimes stuffed inside, sometimes stacked …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":200907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-food","mauthors-americas-test-kitchen","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}