Effortless Chicken Florentine Spinach (Print Version)
# Ingredients:
→ Chicken
01 -
4 chicken breasts, boneless and no skin
→ Cooking Fats
02 -
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
03 -
2 tablespoons olive oil
→ Chicken Dredge
04 -
1 teaspoon garlic powder
05 -
25 grams finely shredded Parmesan
06 -
65 grams plain flour
07 -
2 teaspoons mixed Italian herbs
08 -
0.5 teaspoon black pepper
09 -
1 teaspoon fine salt
→ Florentine Sauce
10 -
Fresh parsley, minced for a final touch
11 -
1.5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or juice from half a lemon (optional)
12 -
90 grams raw spinach leaves
13 -
75 grams cream cheese, softened at room temp
14 -
240 millilitres half and half
15 -
360 millilitres dry white wine or chicken stock
16 -
4 garlic cloves, chopped very fine
# Instructions:
01 -
Pop the pan-fried chicken plus all the juices back in and put the lid on. Let it all get hot for another couple minutes, then scatter some parsley on top when you’re ready to eat.
02 -
Toss in those spinach leaves and keep stirring till they go soft and shrink down. Squeeze in that lemon juice now if you want things a bit zingy.
03 -
Warm up the half and half in the microwave for less than a minute. Pour a little at a time into your skillet, mixing as you go. Let it come just to a gentle bubble, then lower the heat and mix in the cream cheese till it totally melts in.
04 -
Turn off the stove. Pour in your wine or broth, put the heat back on, and use a spatula to scrape up all the tasty crust off the pan. Let that liquid cook down to about half, which takes around 6 minutes. Add the chopped garlic right when it’s almost done.
05 -
Heat up the butter and oil in your biggest skillet over medium-high. Lay out the chicken in a single layer (work in parts if you need). Put the lid on and let it get nice and brown, four or five minutes on each side, so it cooks through. Slide the pieces onto a plate and keep covered to stay warm.
06 -
Grab a shallow bowl and mix up salt, pepper, flour, Italian herbs, Parmesan, and garlic powder. Make sure each piece of chicken is completely covered in this, then shake off any extra coating.
07 -
Lay some plastic wrap on your chicken breasts and use a meat mallet to flatten each to a little over 1 cm thick. Dry them off with a paper towel.
# Notes:
01 -
When you flatten your chicken to the same thickness, it’ll cook nice and tender all over.
02 -
Let chicken sit out at room temp before searing so it cooks more evenly.
03 -
Just let the chicken cook undisturbed to get that golden outside—don’t mess with it, and it’ll let go from the pan by itself.
04 -
Combining butter with olive oil adds flavor and helps keep the oil from burning.
05 -
Swap in 280 grams of thawed, squeezed-dry frozen spinach if you’re out of fresh.
06 -
If you want a lighter sauce, you can leave out the cream cheese—the sauce will still get nice and thick as it cooks down.