Lemon Chicken with Brussel Sprouts

My wife loves lemon, hence she loves the lemon chicken that I make. This time I added some more of her favorite ingredients (cilantro, ginger, large amounts of black pepper) to my standard way of making this dish to make her even happier, if at all possible (notice the sarcasm). The results were excellent, which goes to show that creativity doesn't have to be in creating a new dish, it can be simply tweaking a standard to get a new twist on familiar flavors.

Lemon Chicken

4 pieces of thin sliced chicken breast (boneless skinless thighs work good also)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 a red onion sliced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, fine dice
1 tablespoon of lemon peel, fine dice
1 cup of vegetable or chicken stock (or water)
1 lemon, juiced
1 handful of cilantro, chopped
salt and lots o black pepper (1 salt to 2 pepper ratio)

Start a large sauté pan on medium high (6 of 10) and add some vegetable oil to coat the pan. Season the chicken breasts liberally with the salt and pepper, then dredge them through the flour on both sides. Add them to your hot pan making sure you DO NOT OVERCROWD THE PAN. As they get golden on each side flip and cook for 4 minutes on the other side. Once all of the chicken is cooked and moved aside we can start the sauce. In the same sauté pan add a tablespoon of butter and then your onions, cook them for five minutes or until the start browning. Then add the lemon peel and ginger and cook for 3 minutes. Now add a tablespoon of flour to the onion mix and stir constantly until no more white flour is visible and the flour mix starts to brown a bit. Now add you stock to the pan and mix well. Let that cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until reduced to a sauce consistency. Now add the lemon, cilantro and some salt and pepper to taste. Stir and let cook for 3 more minutes. Add the already cooked chicken back to the pan and turn off the heat. Let it sit for a few minutes and then serve.

Brussel Sprouts

1 package brussel sprouts, halved and trimmed
1 tablespoon of butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
salt and pepper

Brussel are easy to make using this method. Start a large frying pan on medium heat. add the butter and olive oil. Once melted add the brussel spouts cut side down in the pan. Cover and cook for ten minutes or until they get a bright green color. Uncover and turn up the heat to medium high. Let then cook for about five more minutes and then add the salt and pepper and lemon juice. Turn off the heat and recover them for 3 minutes to let the salt,pepper and lemon juice to soak in. Thats it.

Thanks babe for the idea of adding the new ingredients to our old favorite. This was all done in under 45 minutes and the dish scales to serve many people real well. Plus its a crowd please! Buon Apetito