Recipe - {Parmesan Crusted Chicken with CousCous}

I dont know about you, but cooking dinner every night gets to be quite a uninteresting chore for me.
I love cooking, but it feels like we're eating the same few things, even when our meals are going in a 3 week (or more) cycle.

To make this very un-fun but necessary task a bit more enjoyable, I have started to venture out a bit with my cooking, and experiment. I have also been trying to use up whatever meat we have in our freezer, so that we can clean it out.

On the menu for last night was a meal using chicken breast. Normally, i would just make a stirfry, or something similar, but in the spirit of adventure, i created the following recipe pretty much from scratch!

{Parmesan Crusted Chicken with CousCous} 

With White Wine Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

4 servings of chicken breast (we used 2 large breasts for 2 adults and 3 toddlers and it was plenty!)

For the crust:

1/3 cup fine Parmesan cheese

1 slice of bread (I used multigrain)

1 tsp crushed garlic

Pinch of oregano

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Melted butter

For the Sauce:

1/2 c dry white wine

1/2 c stock 

300ml cream

2tbs shallots, finely diced

1tbs oil or butter

Method:

 

1. Preheat oven to 180 Celsius
2. Place all crumb ingredients except butter in a food processor or stick mixer, and blend till combined well. 
3. Lay chicken pieces in a greased baking tray and brush generously with melted butter
4. Press crumb onto chicken to cover the top surface. 
5. Place in oven till crust is golden, and chicken is cooked through (approx 30mins - use a sharp knife through a piece to check for doneness) 

Meanwhile prepare sauce:

1. Place oil or butter in a saucepan and heat over medium heat. 
2. Saute shallots. 
3. Add wine and bring to the boil. Lower heat to simmering and reduce to half its original volume. 
4. Add stock, and simmer to reduce liquid to about 1/2 c in total. 
5. Add cream, and simmer till thick, but do not boil. 
6. Season, and serve hot.

Prepare Couscous according to packet instructions

Overall, the recipe worked perfectly! Hubby was much impressed, and all 3 toddlers gave it their seal of approval!