Ginger Chicken With Fresh Pineapple Sage

Total Time: 30 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/3-inch uniform thickness
• salt, to taste
• cracked black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup flour
• grapeseed oil, for frying
• butter, for frying
• handful of fresh pineapple sage leaf, washed and chopped
• 2 tablespoons ginger puree (read *note)
• 1/2 cup wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 lb pasta (we like gemelli or fettuccini)
• cracked black pepper, to taste
• whole pineapple sage leaf

Recipe

• preparing the chicken: if you have a little time before cooking dinner, lightly salt and pepper the chicken breasts. it's great if you can do this the night before, but it's not necessary.
• mix about a half teaspoon of salt in with the flour along with a little pepper. dredge both sides of the chicken lightly in the flour. (i used a small fine mesh sieve to evenly and lightly coat the chicken.).
• heat a large heavy skillet (with a lid) over medium high heat, with a little grape seed oil and about half a tablespoon of butter. quickly sear both sides of the chicken breast until just faintly golden; you don't want the insides to cook much at all.
• cover tightly and turn the heat down very low. cook for 10 minutes without lifting the lid. remove from the heat and let sit for another 10 minutes, still tightly covered.
• transfer chicken to warming plate, tented with foil to keep it warm.
• *note: to make your own ginger puree, finely grate 1 tablespoon fresh ginger and stir in about 1 tablespoon softened honey (or cane sugar). please, no dried ginger.
• whisk the ginger puree into the wine.
• heat the skillet with the pan juices and fat, scrapping up any fond (brown bits) from the bottom of the pan, and sautè the sage leaves just until wilted.
• deglaze the pan with the wine and ginger mixture, letting it bubble until slightly reduced.
• add the broth and cook until reduced by half.
• meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted boiling water according to package instructions. drain and toss with the ginger sauce. i saved a little bit of the ginger sauce to pour over the chicken. or: place the pasta on the platter, then the chicken and pour all the sauce evenly on top of the mixture.
• serve the chicken on top of the pasta. garnish with a few whole pineapple sage leaves.
• serving suggestion: steamed vegetables and/or a tossed salad using seasonal produce. basmati rice or jasmine rice is another option instead of pasta.