Fens Award Winning Baked Chicken Florentine Recipes

BAKED CHICKEN FLORENTINE RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
• Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the skillet and cook until golden brown, approximately 4-5 minutes. Flip the chicken over and cook for an additional 4 minutes or until golden. Transfer the chicken to a plate and keep warm.
• Add the butter to the pan and melt. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine to the pan and deglaze by scraping up the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Turn the heat to low and simmer until the wine is reduced by half.
• Stir in the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Slowly stir in the half and half, cream cheese, garlic powder, onion powder and parmesan. Cook until the sauce is smooth and thick.
• Stir in the spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes or until wilted. Return the chicken to the pan arranging so it's covered by the sauce and transfer to the oven.
• Bake the chicken for 20 minutes or until an instant read thermometer registers 165˚F.
• Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with extra parmesan cheese, if desired.

CHICKEN FENNEL BAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil.
• Cut the fennel into thick slices. Shingle them onto the center of the baking sheet and season with salt and pepper.
• Zest 2 of the lemons and set aside, then juice these lemons into a medium bowl. Whisk the olive oil into the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Halve the remaining 3 lemons and add them to the bowl along with the potatoes and carrots. Toss to coat. Spread the vegetables and lemon halves around the outside of the baking sheet. Put the chicken thighs in the same bowl along with the reserved lemon zest and more salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Put the chicken on top of the fennel skin-side up, leaving a little space between pieces.
• Bake, stirring the potatoes and carrots halfway through, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Serve the chicken with the vegetables and roasted lemon halves.

FEN'S AWARD WINNING BAKED CHICKEN FLORENTINE

Steps:

• Sauté celery and shallots in 3 tbsp butter on medium heat until tender. Add thinly sliced spinach leaves; mix thoroughly until spinach is warm and cooked. Remove from heat, stir in cheese and bread crumbs. Let cool slightly then add in egg. Refrigerate until firm.
• Preheat oven to 350°F Flatten breast halves with the side of a mallet until about 1/4 inch thick, Being careful not to tear through chicken. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of spinach mixture on center of each chicken piece, fold envelope style and secure with a plain wooden pick.
• Place chicken seam side down in 9 x 12 baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat butter, wine, tomatoes, chicken bouillon and thyme. Pour 1/2 of sauce over chicken.
• Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, baste chicken with remaining sauce, then add sliced mushrooms into pan and spread around until they are coated with the sauce. Return to oven and bake until chicken is tender, about 20 minutes longer. Remove wooden picks from chicken, place chicken on serving platter and keep warm.
• Pour drippings and remaining sauce from baking dish into saucepan. Blend cornstarch with cream and slowly stir into sauce until sauce thickens and comes to a low boil (add additional cream if needed to thin sauce). Season with salt and pepper.
• Pour sauce over chicken trying to keep tomatoes and mushrooms on top of the chicken for aesthetic purposes. Serve with buttered noodles or rice pilaf.

CHICKEN FLORENTINE STYLE

Steps:

• Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour to coat lightly. Shake off any excess flour. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until brown, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep it warm.
• Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and saute until the shallots are translucent, stirring to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the skillet, about 1 minute. Add the wine. Increase the heat to medium-high and boil until the liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the cream and boil until the sauce reduces by half, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley. Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and any accumulated juices to the sauce, and turn the chicken to coat in the sauce.
• Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in another large skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach and saute until heated through. Season the spinach, to taste, with salt and pepper. Arrange the spinach over a platter. Place the chicken atop the spinach. Pour the sauce over and serve.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH FENNEL

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle bottom of shallow roasting pan or baking sheet with about half the olive oil and cover it with a layer of the fennel. Overlap pieces if necessary but use whole pan. Drizzle remaining oil over fennel and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut up chicken if necessary and sprinkle the pieces with salt and pepper.
• Top fennel with the chicken parts, skin side up. Ideally, you'll have a layer of fennel pretty much covered by a layer of chicken, but it's fine if some of the fennel roasts uncovered. Spoon some of the oil from bottom of pan over chicken. If there is not enough, drizzle additional olive oil over the chicken. Roast about 15 minutes, then baste chicken with pan drippings and rotate the pan. If necessary, adjust oven temperature so chicken browns but does not burn.
• The chicken will be done in about 30 minutes. Serve each piece with some fennel and a little of the pan juices spooned over, garnished with parsley and a lemon wedge.