Tenth Month Menu

Patrick and I kept the monthly tradition of enjoying a monthly anniversary dinner on our china through packing and moving. Obviously with the blog not surviving through the summer the posts didn't make it up. We're catching back up with the tenth month menu - we celebrated ten months in June! This was the week before we moved so we hadn't packed all the kitchen goodies up. The dinner was a recipe from The Chew and the simple dessert was from Ina Garten. Since this was in the midst of beginning moving prep we kept the dessert extra simple as you see. If you're interested in printing the menu, click here.


Roasted beets with goat cheese salad
Ina Garten's Palmiers

Lemon Butter Chicken with Asparagus from The Chew
Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 egg
flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 lemon, juiced
1 stick butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 pound prosciutto
1/4 pound sliced provolone
1 bunch asparagus, cut in 1-inch pieces
olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions
   Preheat oven to 375°F.
   Season the flour with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Whisk the egg in a shallow dish. Coat the chicken in flour, dip in Egg and then dredge in flour again shaking off excess.
   Heat large non-stick skillet over medium with 1/4-inch oil. Add the chicken breast and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes per side until golden. Remove chicken to a paper towel lined plate. Wipe out excess oil from pan with a paper towel and return pan to heat. Deglaze with wine, scraping up brown bits and reduce by half. Add butter and allow to melt. Stir in the juice of lemon. Adjust seasoning to taste. Return chicken to the pan and baste with sauce. Reserve remaining sauce in pan.
   Line baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Remove the pieces of chicken from the sauce to the baking sheet, reserving the sauce in the pan. Top each piece of chicken with prosciutto and provolone. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and cheese is melted.
   Meanwhile, steam asparagus in a steamer basket over boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath to shock. Strain out asparagus and season with salt and pepper. Transfer steamed asparagus to the reserved lemon butter sauce and toss to coat.
   Slice up the chicken and platter with the asparagus and remaining sauce. Sprinkle with parsley to garnish, optional.


The roasted beets and goat cheese salad was an easy throw-together. We roasted the beets (wrapped in foil with olive oil, salt and pepper) in a 375F oven for 45 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork.


Ina Garten’s PalmiersIngredients
1 c granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted

Directions
   Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Combine the sugar and kosher salt. Pour 1/2 cup of the sugar/salt mixture on a flat surface such as wooden board or marble. Unfold each sheet of puff pastry onto the sugar and pour 1/4 cup of the sugar mixture on top, spreading it evenly on the puff pastry. This is not about sprinkling, it's about an even covering of sugar. With a rolling pin, roll the dough until it's 13 by 13-inches square and the sugar is pressed into the puff pastry on top and bottom. Fold the sides of the square towards the center so they go halfway to the middle. Fold them again so the two folds meet exactly at the middle of the dough. Then fold 1 half over the other half as though closing a book. You will have 6 layers. Slice the dough into 3/8-inch slices and place the slices, cut side up, on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
   Bake the cookies for 6 minutes until caramelized and brown on the bottom, then turn with a spatula and bake another 3 to 5 minutes, until caramelized on the other side. Transfer to a baking rack to cool.

It was important for us to follow through with this monthly tradition for the first year even though the boxes were getting packed up and things were getting a bit hectic. It's always worth it to take the extra time to center ourselves and spend some relaxing together.

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