Bistro Chicken Breasts

A delicious way to be prepared

If you like the crisp edges of lasagne, the soaked croutons, the whipped cream that gets icy around the chocolate scoop - you’re in the right place.

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There’s a tension between responsibility and desire. Last night I fancied eating a whole snapper. I walked to the fishmonger while the kids were at school, spent my afternoon thinking about Greek flavors—olives, wild oregano, wine—but couldn’t do much more until we got home from the playground. The oven wasn’t hot till past six. The fish wasn’t cooked till almost 7. While the kids were waiting for their very exciting fish with a face (!), they launched avocados at lampshades and cracked into a bottle of Flintstone multis, emerging like bandits with food-coloring face paint. I was put in my place. Today I’ll be ready when they are.

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Bistro Chicken Breasts

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I am as surprised as you are. But let me explain: a glaze of mustard, vinegar, and honey, administered near the end of cooking and given a tickle under the broiler, makes a quasi-crust and a peppery sauce that has me forgetting what’s missing. Unlike a lot of honey-mustard things, this isn’t sweet. There’s just enough honey to curb the vinegar and bubble into a nutty crust. It’s tangy rather than cloying.

And if you make this, you’ll be prepared. It’s great hot, it’s great cold, it’s great made an hour before you need it. It’s great in lunchboxes the next day, it’s great thinly sliced on lunchtime salads. It’s great with a pot of lentils and your last tomatoes.