Mmm...alcoholic chicken

Hello all. Last week, I noticed an easy and yummy sounding meal in my most recent issue of Everyday Food, Chicken Thighs Braised in Wine. After a few nights of lame meals (grilled cheese, soup, and there may have been some Taco Bell), I felt the urge to be a bit more healthy and inventive. The chicken and rice was served alongside some fresh green beans sauteed in olive oil with garlic and red pepper flakes.

As you can see from the recipe, you braise the chicken in the white wine with some garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Eventually, you add some lemon. Then you reduce the wine to make a sauce and serve the lot over rice. Very easy.

I subbed chicken breasts for thighs, because that's what I had in the freezer. I also added a handful of chopped mushrooms (crimini, what else?).

I have few issues with this recipe. I felt there wasn't enough sauce at the end (I only used 2 chicken breasts, and had just enough, and the recipe is designed for 4 servings). In the future, I might increase the amount of wine prior to reduction, or add in some chicken stock (and another pat of butter of course). Also, it was a bit too lemony, which is odd given that it was only 1 tbsp of lemon juice, plus the cooking lemons. But several bites of rice were eye-openingly lemony. A grain of rice may have been shot up my nose as I sputtered at the lemoniness. Diluting the sauce would help. Using chicken thighs, which are fattier and more flavorful than the plain ol' breast, would probably help too - add a bit more lusciousness to the sauce and all that.

The green beans are so easy - clean the beans, cook the beans in salted, boiling water for about 3 minutes, shock them in ice water, then toss them in a medium heat pan with olive oil, garlic, s/p, and chili flakes to taste.