I know this sounds like an incredibly complicated dish worthy of a gourmet kitchen but truth be told it’s not that complicated. I love fresh basil and for some reason I always have a hankering for it in the spring and summer. There’s something about the abundance of fresh produce that causes me to oogle over fresh herbs as well. Although fresh herbs are available year round at your grocery store.
In any case, if you stick basil on it, I’ll eat it. So when I ran across this recipe in Cooking Pleasures, I started playing and voila–here is my adapted version of chicken in basil cream sauce.
For the chicken you will need:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt (like sea salt)
1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
2 tbsp of unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp of fresh basil, finely chopped
For the sauce you will need:
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp fres basil, finely chopped
1/8 tsp of coarse salt
1/8 tsp of white pepper
Pre-heat the broiler. To prepare the chicken breasts, first sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Next, combine the 2 tablespoons of softened butter with 2 tablespoons of fresh basil. Spread half of the mixture over top of the chicken breasts.
Place in the broiler for approximately 10 minutes. The chicken should begin to brown. Turn over and spread with the remaining basil butter. Broil about 10 minutes longer until it starts to brown and is no longer pink inside.
Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium skillet over low heat. Add cream and the remaining tablespoon of basil. Increase heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes. It should start to thicken slightly. Stir in the salt and pepper. Spoon over chicken.
Add a salad and garlic bread and you have a complete meal.
Check out these other great chicken recipes: