Balsamic Chicken

To accompany my polenta from yesterday's post, I made balsamic chicken. It's a really easy dish that requires just 1 grocery store ingredient, the chicken, and then everything else comes from the pantry.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken tenders (or breasts or thighs, whatever you like)

1 medium onion

4 or 5 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

salt & pepper

I like to just roughly chop up the onion and garlic because this is a quick and rustic dish.

Then, in a pan, I heat up olive oil and add in the onions and garlic and a sprinkle of salt. This dish doesn't need much salt because the balsamic vinegar adds tons of flavor. Once they onions and garlic have sweat a bit and start to get some color, I add in the chicken. I should note that I was lazy and not in the mood to disinfect a cutting board so I didn't trim the little tough tendon/ligament from my tenders - all tenders have them. It's this little white piece that you should just cut out with a knife. Don't be me - please trim!

While the chicken is cooking, I mix up the balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, and black pepper. Don't worry about getting the mustard to dissolve. The magic will happen in the pan.

Once the chicken starts to go from translucent pink to white and opaque, I pour the vinegar and mustard over the chicken. You can see the undissolved mustard on the two pieces of chicken towards the bottom of the photo.

I let the chicken cook in the sauce for about 10 minutes over a medium heat. I like to turn each piece over every few minutes to make sure it's getting coated in the sauce.

Once the sauce is reduced enough to coat the back of a spoon and the tenders are stained brown by the vinegar, I turn off the heat and plate it up. I like to spoon the yummy onions and garlic and sauce over the top of the chicken. See? Rustic and homey and delicious.

You could definitely chop up this chicken and toss it with some pasta but I like to serve it over the polenta that I described in yesterday's post. Just plop a spoonful on your plate and place a tender on top. Don't forget the onions, garlic, and sauce. Enjoy!