Chocolate Mousse

Where does the time go?  I was going to give you this recipe ages ago and I turn around and weeks have gone by!  Summer has just flown by and before I know it I will be looking at fall recipes.

This particular recipe has been with me since the beginning of time and I have no idea where it came from.  I had always used dark rum until I decided to use sherry when one of my guests refused to eat anything with rum in it.  What a stroke of luck, I think it is an improvement and I have never looked back.  This serves two people and is easy to double or triple.

Ingredients

2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

3 tablespoons sherry

2 egg whites

Directions

Melt the chocolate on double boiler with the sherry. Remove from heat.

Whip egg whites until stiff.  When chocolate is cooled, fold in egg whites.

Pour into parfait glasses and chill.

Chicken Picata

I thought I would be too busy with preparations for this August long week-end to post today.  However, due to the dark, cloudy , rainy weather with the occasional thunder growling I am finding myself with some time on my hands!  So here is the main dish I prepared after the gazpacho soup.

This is a dish I make for special occasions.  Although it is relatively easy to make it is quite an impressive dish with its beautiful tart, salty lemony flavours.  I also like it because you can prepare it ahead of time, then put the meat into the fridge until you are ready to cook and it only take minutes.  I put my pan on the barbecue this time because it was too hot to use the oven and you can see it turned out beautifully.  Bonus!!  I also added the capers for the first time and loved it.  I don't know why I was hesitant to try the capers before.

I adapted this recipe from the blog aggieskitchen.com

Ingredients
2 skinless chicken breasts
salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 large egg
3/4 cup bread crumbs
olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
juice from 2 lemons, lemon halves reserved
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons capers (optional)

Directions
Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of saran wrap and pound out to 1/4 inch thick.  Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

Mix the flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in as shallow plate.  In a second plate beat the egg.  Place bread crumbs on a third plate.  Dip each chicken breast first in the flour, shake off the excess, and then dip in the egg and bread crumb mixtures.

The chicken breasts are thin and  do not take long to cook so the sauce should be prepared before you start cooking the chicken.

Over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saute pan and then add lemon juice, wine, the reserved lemon halves, 1/2 teaspoon salt (less if you are also adding the capers at this point) and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Boil over high heat until reduced in half.  Take off the heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and swirl to combine.  Discard the lemon halves.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium  heat.  Add the chicken breasts and cook until browned on both sides.

Spoon the sauce over the chicken breasts and serve.