Artichoke Chicken with Roasted Potatoes

This is yet another recipe from my "29 Minutes to Dinner" cook book. I've been trying to cook more on week nights, so that cook book gotten a lot of use lately. This is a great dish if you want a restaurant quality meal at home in not a lot of time. Of course it took me longer than the 28 minutes the book said it would, but still was pretty quick and surprisingly easy. I need to try some more challenging meals here soon, or you guys are going to get bored with me. :)

Artichoke Chicken with Roasted Potatoes:

Potatoes and Chicken:

• 3 small red potatoes
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tsp "Rosemary herb seasoning mix" (this is just dried rosemary, salt and pepper that pampered chief will sell to you with a nice big mark up.)
• 2 tsp olive oil, divided

Artichoke Topping

• 1/2 cup chopped artichoke hearts
• 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 oz parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp mayonnaise

1). Preheat broiler on high. Meanwhile, cut potatoes into quarter. Place potatoes, water and salt into micro-cooker; microwave on hight 6-8 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.

2). Meanwhile, for artichoke topping, chop artichokes and parsley. Grate parmesan cheese. Set aside 2 tbsp for later use; add remaining cheese and mayonnaise to artichoke and parsley.

3). Flatten chicken to 1/2 in thickness. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with 1 tsp of seasoning mix.

4). Add 1 tsp of the oil to a stainless skillet (do not use nonstick cookware); heat over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until simmering. Meanwhile, add remaining 1 tsp of the oil and remaining 1 tsp of seasoning mix to potatoes; stir to coat.

5). Place chicken and potatoes, cut side down, into skillet. Cook 3-4 minutes or until chicken is golden brown. Turn chicken and potatoes over; cook an additional 3-4 minutes or until chicken is golden brown and centers are no longer pink.

6). Remove potatoes from skillet; set aside and keep warm. To finish chicken, spread artichoke topping evenly over chicken; sprinkle with reserved cheese. Place skillet as close to possible to heating element; broil 4-6 minutes or until topping is deep golden brown. Carefully remove skillet from broiler. Serve chicken with potatoes. 

(cooking on my stove top)

Not much to report on in changes to the recipe. I followed it almost exactly, except for I used fresh rosemary instead of dried. Also, I used 4 potatoes... and really should have used the 3 they recommended. It was very hard to get them all in my skillet, and even harder to turn them over once they were in there... But they still turned out okay. It truly tasted like something that came out of a restaurant, which made me very happy.

This dish turned out really well and helped to show me how far I have come as a cook. I've really wanted to try this recipe for a while, but I think I was always a little afraid of it. I guess I just thought it was a lot more complicated than it was. All the cooking I have done lately has really helped to boost my confidence in the kitchen. Normally when cooking chicken I flip it a million times and have to cut into the middle just to make sure it's done. This time I managed to flip it at just the right time, not burn it AT ALL, and get it to perfect doneness with out cutting into it (and letting all those lovely juices go to waist). When it was all said and done I was pretty proud of this dish. It looked beautiful and tasted amazing. What more could you ask for?

 Actually, thinking about it now. I think the artichoke topping would be good on a nice cut of steak too... hum, may have an experiment for the future.