Lean plate club recipe: Ginger-shallot chicken breasts

GINGER-SHALLOT CHICKEN BREASTS

Serves 4.

Serve with rice and a cucumber-mint-cashew salad.

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken-breast halves, about 11/2 lb.

• 1 tbsp. soy sauce

• 1¹/₂-in. piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

• 4 large shallots, or¹/₂medium onion and 1 clove garlic, peeled

•¹/₂tsp. turmeric

• 1 tsp. ground coriander

• 1 tbsp. brown sugar

• 1 to 2 fresh jalapeño peppers or serrano chiles, seeded, optional

• 2 tbsp. cold-pressed vegetable oil

• Extra oil for the sauté

• Passion fruit glaze, optional

Directions

Place the chicken in a plastic storage container. In a blender or food processor, purée soy sauce, ginger, shallots, turmeric, coriander, brown sugar, jalapeños and vegetable oil with a little water. Scrape over the chicken, turn pieces to coat thoroughly and cover. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 24 hours.

Lightly film a 12-inch straight-sided sauté pan and heat over medium-high. Add the chicken, not letting the pieces touch. Sear on one side for a minute or so; turn and lightly brown on the second side.

Reduce heat to medium-low, cover the pan and cook, turning the chicken once, 10 minutes (if the meat threatens to burn, add a few tablespoons water), or until the pieces are just firm when pressed. Serve hot.

Passion fruit glaze: You could glaze the chicken by swirling ¹/₂cup of passion-fruit juice into the pan once the bird is done. Boil it down to a syrup and pour over the meat. The juice will pick up all the great-tasting bits in the pan.

Nutrition information per serving:

Calories 276 Fat 13 g Sodium 300 mg

Carbohydrates 11 g Saturated fat 2 g Calcium 34 mg

Protein 28 g Trans fat 0 g Dietary fiber 1 g

Diabetic exchanges per serving: 1 vegetable,½ other carb, 4 lean meat.

VARIATIONS

Italian Pork Chop Sauté: This illustrates how saucing is done in the pan as the meat cooks.

Use olive oil to coat the sauté pan. Quickly brown thick-cut pork chops with salt and pepper, then add a little chopped onion, minced garlic, fresh rosemary, a cut-up tomato and about¹/₃cup white wine. Turn heat down so the mix barely bubbles, cover the pan, and cook until the pork is just firm. Take the chops out of the pan, boil down the pan sauce and pour it over the meat. Serve garnished with rosemary branches.

Moroccan Lamb Sauté: Rub thick-cut lamb chops with a blend of salt, pepper, sweet paprika, cumin, coriander and olive oil. Cook exactly as described in the chicken recipe, except do not cover. Cook over medium low until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of a chop reads 125 to 130 degrees for medium-rare. Let the lamb rest 5 minutes outside the pan before serving.

Salmon Basil Sauté: Cook thick-cut, salted and peppered salmon steaks exactly the way the chicken is done, except start them with a handful of basil leaves in the pan. Before covering the salmon, add some thin-sliced garlic. Fish usually cooks at 10 minutes per inch of thickness. Finish with fresh lemon juice to taste.