Lemon Cilantro Chicken Scaloppini

One of the wonderful benefits of living in California is it's unique cuisine.  A blend of fresh foods grown in the state along with a twist of regional flavor.


Such is today's dish.  A prime example of taking a basic, classic chicken scaloppini and incorporating regional flavors to turn it into a new, fresh dish.


Lemon Cilantro Chicken Scaloppini starts by making a basic chicken scaloppini, but adds spice with hot chili flakes, and citrusy flavors with lemon and cilantro.  It's just a beautiful combination of flavors.


This is an easy dish to make, and is perfect for a weeknight meal.  You only need several ingredients and most of which you probably have in your kitchen already.

Come join me in some of the flavors of California that I enjoy so much.


Kitchen Tip:  If you don't want to pound out your chicken breasts, try picking up chicken cutlets, or thin sliced breasts at the market.  They work wonderfully too!

Lemon Cilantro Chicken Scaloppini

serves 4


4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
salt & pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2/3 cup fat-skimmed chicken broth
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon hot chile flakes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro


Rinse chicken breast and pat dry. Place halves between two sheets of plastic wrap; with a mallet or a rolling pin, gently pound chicken to an even 1/4 inch thick. Season with salt and pepper.

Place flour in a shallow plate and add chicken turning to coat each side.  Shake off any excess flour.  

Add 4 teaspoons of oil to a large nonstick skillet that been heated over medium high heat.  Place chicken in pan and cook 4- 6 minutes until no longer pink.  Transfer to a platter and keep by tenting with foil.  If you need to cook in batches you can keep the chicken warm in a 200 degree oven.

Add remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil and garlic to hot pan used to cook chicken and stir over high heat until garlic is slightly limp, about 15 seconds. Add chicken broth, lemon peel, lemon juice, and chile flakes to pan.  Stir until mixture is boiling. Boil, stirring occasionally, until juices are slightly reduced, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, then stir in fresh cilantro. Spoon sauce evenly over chicken. 


source: Sunset

Southern Sundays

Happy Southern Sundays!

I hope everyone had a great holiday.  I felt a little off since it was during the middle of the week, and had to go back to work the next day.  But I'm thinking I could get used to a schedule like that....I mean the weekend was here in no time!  Yippee!!

I think that going out to the Hollywood Bowl on a Friday night (which is not usual for us...) made the weekend seem longer as well.  But I'll take it!  So yesterday I posted a cute little take along dessert which I've sneaked in to this week's Southern Sundays party.  If you have a minute check out my post.  I just LOVE food in mason jars...it's my new thing.  We like to go on picnics and I'm always looking for great food that travels well.  So I'd love you to show my your great recipes for a crowd, or a picnic, or just summer items that celebrate the season.

Last week we had so many great entries, thanks for participating.  I just love looking at all the different recipes.  However, two entries were certainly adored!   I'm featuring those top two this week.

Congratulations of your featured entry!!

White Chocolate Strawberry Cordials

by Searching for Dessert

YUM!!

Cajun 4th of July Menu

by Marguerite of Cajun Delights

Wow!!! Love it all!

Please take a moment to go stop by the wonderful artists of these dishes and say 'Hi!".  They both have terrific sites and and soooo creative!

So let's party!  I can't wait to see what you all bring this week.

Guidelines:

Please become a follower by joining my site with Google Friends Connect in the right side bar.
Link back to your specific recipe and not to your main site.
Link back to Southern Sundays either in your post, or grab my Southern Sundays Button located in the right side bar.
Please visit a few of the links in the post and say hello to your fellow bloggers!
Enjoy, have fun, cook lots of food, and relish your Southern Sunday!

Take Along S'mores

A wonderful way to start off the weekend is by taking in a concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

MGG and I love the Bowl.  We try and go two, three, sometime four times each season.  Last night was our first adventure this season, and what a beginning to what we hope is a great summer filled with great music.  

Last night's program was call Frozen Planet.   It's a co-production of the BBC and Discovery Channel.  A wonderful film of the two polar regions, the film's debut and and a live orchestra playing the accompanying music.  The composer, George Fenton, conducted the orchestra.  The film was stunning.  Beautiful scenery, and wonderful antics mixed with harsh reality of the animals that live in the regions.  

See the tiny Hollywood sign way up in the right?  Very cool.  So a major part of the fun in going to the Bowl, is in taking a picnic and some wine to have before the concert.  Since it was Friday night and we had to go right after work MGG ordered us two hot meals from Zach's Italian Cafe to take along with us.  Another of my favorite places to eat!  Wonderful Italian food and a restaurant that is set up in an old bungalow house.  

Since I didn't have time to cook, I decided I'd love to at least make us dessert.  So I came up with this wonderful dessert in a jar called Take Along S'mores!  It's so easy to transport since the dessert is in two 8oz mason jars.  I just love that!  And, who doesn't love s'mores?  A favorite of mine since childhood, this dessert has all the flavors but using slightly modified ingredients from the original.  Perfect for the Bowl, a picnic, or even to take a treat for work!

My s'mores consist of crumbled Soft Paws (Teddy Grahams) for the graham cracker flavor, Chocolate Fudge pudding (instead of a chocolate bar), and marshmallow fluff (for the roasted marshmallows).  All layered in a cute little mason jar!

I hope you will try these soon.  What is your favorite dessert in a mason jar?

Take Along S'mores
serves 2

2 (8 oz) canning jars with lids
1 (.4 oz) package of sugar-free Chocolate Fudge instant pudding, prepared according to package directions and chilled
2 Teddy Graham soft paws, crumbled
4 T Marshmallow Fluff
2 T mini marshmallows

Prepare the pudding according to package directions ahead of time, chill in medium bowl until set.

To assemble your jars begin with placing 1/4 of the crumbled graham crackers soft paws in the bottom.  Follow with a layer of pudding, followed by 2 Tbsp of Marshmallow Fluff. Repeat with another layer of Soft Paws and pudding.  The jar should be almost full.

Top with mini marshmallows, place on lid and seal.  Keep in the refrigerator until ready to take with you!