I'm Just Sayin'

If you know me very well, you are probably not surprised to learn that I subscribe to a website called All Recipes. Yes, I love to cook and it shows. I like cooking partly because I enjoy good food, but mostly because I like to share good food with other people who like good food.

So every day, I get a recipe-of-the-day email. If I follow the link, I can view the entire recipe, along with ratings, comments and revisions from other subscribers. I can save the recipes in my own online recipe file for future reference.

I can also use the website to search for recipes, which I do often, but usually only after consulting one or more of my many cookbooks. Nothing like a cookbook! No online search engine will ever replace for me the simple pleasure of browsing through a glossy book full of recipes, pictures, and hopefully a few stories or anecdotes. My favorite cookbooks are dog-eared, food-stained and broken-spined with notes scribbled in the margins. When I open one, I could swear they whisper “Welcome back. Where you been? Let’s make something good!” It’s a love thing – a chubby girl and her cookbook. You skinny bitches probably have a similar relationship with your treadmills or elliptical trainers. Go for it. Come over to my place when you’re finished working out. I’ll help you put your thighs back on.

Anyway, back to the website. I get these daily emails, and I usually think, “Huh, another recipe for chicken enchilada casserole.” Or “why would I want to make meatloaf in a crockpot?” But every once in a while, probably when breakfast has been oatmeal and lunch a salad, a recipe really grabs my attention. So it was with Martini Chicken.

If you know me well enough to understand my love for cooking, then you probably also know I enjoy a good martini: dry, dirty, shaken, with three olives, please. And gin, preferably Tanqueray. So the email alert, for “Easy Olive Martini Chicken” stopped me in my tracks. You mean I can have a martini for dinner? I mean, AS the entrée, and not IN PLACE of the entrée? I had to check it out. Sure enough, a main dish that contained gin, dry vermouth, and olives! And garlic! And yes, chicken.

I would have cooked some on the spot, if I’d had chicken in the house, and if I hadn’t already thawed a tilapia filet for dinner that night. So I marveled at the recipe, even noted the wonder of it on my Facebook status update. And today, I got myself to the grocery store for some boneless, skinless chicken breasts, which happened to be on sale, buy one package, get two free. Bonus!

A couple of Facebook friends asked me to share. I’m still not sure if you wanted the recipe, or wanted to join me for dinner. But since most of you are out of state, you’ll have to settle for the recipe, this time. But hey, if you are ever in the neighborhood …I’ll be cooking. Just sayin’

Martini Chicken
Adapted by Lauren Whitaker from Easy Olive Martini Chicken by “Jen” at allrecipes.com

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter, divided
2 large cloves garlic, minced, or to taste
¼ cup gin
1 tablespoon dry vermouth
2 teaspoons lemon juice
¼ cup chicken broth
½ cup sliced olives stuffed with pimiento

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste. (Keep in mind that olives will add saltiness to dish.) Brown chicken in olive oil, about 5 minutes per side. Remove chicken and reduce heat to medium low. Add 1 tablespoon butter and garlic to skillet. Saute 1-2 minutes, scraping skillet to loosen brown bits.
Add gin, vermouth, lemon juice and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Return chicken to skillet and add olives. Simmer chicken 5-10 minutes until chicken juice runs clear, occasionally spooning broth over chicken.
Remove chicken to platter and keep warm. Increase heat to medium high, and cook sauce for 2-3 minutes until thick. Stir in remaining tablespoon butter. Stir until butter is melted, and then spoon sauce over chicken.