Thursdays are our “rush” days. My hubby and I have a tight schedule consisting of school, work and music rehearsals, so making a good meal to eat around 5pm can get very tight. Well, lately, I have been making creative pasta dishes every Thursday, but somehow, I was NOT in the mood for pasta, especially since my hubby had cooked the night before. He made me Yankee Chili which requires elbow macaroni. I have never had this dish before and had been quite skeptical of it but I can’t argue when my hubby volunteers to cook, you know? Here is the picture of his meal:
Ok, so I thank my hubby! Anyway, I wanted to get away from having another pasta dish so I looked at a receipe I had bookmarked for Butternut Squash on Kevin’s blog, called Closet Cooking. I know I mentioned that I was going to make soup with the squash recipe but this was calling my name!
The next to think about was the main portion of the meal. We have been good about eating meat only once or twice a week, since I like eating protein in different forms. Based on that fact, I decided to make a chicken recipe that would accompany all the flavors incorporated in the squash recipe. The results were fantastic! It filled us pretty quickly without the need to have rice, potatoes, or bread. This quick and easy meal for a hectic busy schedule proved to be a winner in our books.
Pan-Fried Lemon-Sage Chicken with Roasted Butternut Squash
serves 2 (recipe by me)
2 chicken breasts
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp sage, chopped (dried or fresh)
1 lemon, juiced
Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Meanwhile, butterfly each chicken breast and place the chicken breasts between a sheet of parchment paper. Use a mallet to pound the chicken until it is 1/2 inch thick.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and spices and coat each chicken breast in flour. Place the chicken on the pan and fry the chicken for 5 mins on each side. The last 3 minutes, add the lemon juice to the chicken in the pan. Immediately serve.
I would recommend preparing the squash first, then the chicken.
Roasted Butternut Squash
–with onions, sage, and blue cheese—
adapted from Closet Cooking
serves 2 people
1/2 butternut squash, cut in 1 inch cubes
olive oil for drizzling
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
10 sage leaves
Place squash on cookie sheet and drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper and cook for 25 minutes on 425F.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat and saute onions and garlic. Add sage leaves and continue to cook until aromatic. Add the roasted squash and remove the pan from stove top. Add the crumbled cheese and mix. It will melt as you mix in.
Serve with the chicken and a nice white wine!
