FLASH CHICKEN SAUTÉ WITH CIDER AND ALMONDS
- 1½ cups Cheater’s Homemade Chicken Broth or canned chicken broth
- Good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (organic if possible)
- Salt and fresh-ground black pepper
- 6 large garlic cloves, thin sliced
- 1 cup cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons whole salted almonds, coarse chopped
Instructions:
The way America is eating chicken breasts, the day of the “Franken-chicken,” one big breast staggering around on toothpick legs, cannot be far off.
- In a 10-inch sauté pan (preferably not nonstick), boil down the broth until it is reduced by about twothirds.
- Pour it into a container and set it aside. Rinse and dry the pan.
- Lightly film the pan with oil. Heat it over high heat. Slip the chicken breasts into the pan, sprinkling them with salt and pepper. Lightly brown them on both sides. Lower the heat to medium low, and cook, uncovered, for 4 minutes per side, or until they are firm but not springy when pressed. Remove the chicken to a serving platter and keep it warm.
- Make the pan sauce by adding the garlic and vinegar to the pan. Boil, scraping up the brown bits in the pan, until the vinegar is boiled down to ¼ cup. Stir in the reserved broth and boil for 2 minutes, or until the sauce is rich-tasting (it need not be thick). Adjust the salt and pepper. Stir in the butter until it’s barely melted, and immediately pour the sauce over the chicken, topping it with the almonds.