7.15.2011

2011, Recipe 57: Chicken Paillard with Fresh Fig Salad & Blue Cheese

Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence



Vinaigrette:
3 tbsp honey
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, chopped
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
½ medium lemon, juiced
1 tsp chopped fresh tarragon
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1½ lbs.)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ lb pancetta (I just used bacon)
extra virgin olive oil
¼ lb blue cheese, broken into hunks
1 bunch arugula, trimmed
1 small basket seasonal figs, halved
tarragon leaves for garnish, if desired

1. Prepare vinaigrette: Whisk together all of the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Prepare chicken: Sandwich chicken breasts between 2 layers of plastic wrap and pound them very thin with the side of a meat cleaver or a rolling pin. Remove chicken from plastic wrap and season well on both sides with salt and pepper.
3. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Unroll the pancetta so it looks like big strips of bacon. Add it to the pan and fry it like a tangle of bacon until the fat is rendered, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
4. Drizzle a 2-count of olive oil into the pan with the pancetta drippings. Add the chicken and pan-fry for 3 to 4 minutes on each side to brown the breasts and cook them through. Use a spatula to remove the chicken to the paper towels with the pancetta. Add the vinaigrette to the sauté pan and heat for a few minutes, stirring, to deglaze the bits of pancetta and chicken from the bottom of the pan; take the pan off the heat.
5. To serve, arrange the chicken on a platter. Scatter the blue cheese, arugula, figs, and pancetta over. Drizzle the dressing over everything and garnish with the tarragon leaves.

Results: So yummy!  But expensive.  There was no reason for me to buy sherry vinegar since this recipe only called for a tablespoon.  I should've paid attention to that before I bought it.  Don't be surprised if you see a bunch of sherry vinegar recipes on here soon.  Figs were on sale, arugula was not and ridiculously priced.  Easy recipe, though.  Just sounds fancy. 

5 comments:

Reggie said...

Looks tasty

Adei von K said...

what do figs taste like? the whole salad looks amazing and that's a very good food photo :-)

Jameil said...

Thanks y'all! It was yummy!

Adei... How do you describe taste? Sweet and fruity. Yummy. Almost honey-like?

Not So Anonymous said...

I love figs and I love arugula even more. I'm going to try it. The photo is enough to make me want to make it for lunch today.

Jameil said...

Yay! Let me know how it goes!