I originally planned on giving another Rachel Ray entree recipe a try last week, but the timing wound up not working out and I had to toss the turkey because I waited too long. I hate doing that, but I’m glad that it’s been a long, long time since it happened. Anyway, I still had the ingredients to make the side dish of Balsamic-Glazed Pearl Onions & Green Beans (2, 4, 6, 7 Great Meals For Couples or Crowds, page 157) and some frozen chicken and that was enough for a meal.
For the chicken, I basically cooked it the same way I did the poultry in the Chicken Milano recipe I made recently. I simply sprinkled it with salt and pepper and then cooked in a little bit of olive oil in a pan. Since I had the nice kalamata olive oil I got from Scarborough Fare, I used that and the chicken got a a really nice, crispy screen on it and tasted great. Sometimes it’s the simplest treatments of meat that accentuate their natural flavors and stay with you.
The Balsamic-Glazed Pearl Onions & Green Beans were a little bit more complicated, but not much. You get some water boiling in a pan. Once that’s done, you drop in the cleaned and trimmed green beans. Those go for a few minutes before draining. The same pan then gets some olive oil and the pearl onions (I forgot to defrost the ahead of time, so I ran them under hot water before cooking and then cooked a little longer than the recipe suggests). After those cook for a few, you add in some red wine vinegar, chicken stock, salt and pepper and reduce the liquid by half. Put the beans back in the pan along with some butter and you’re good to go.
I’m always looking for ways to prepare vegetables as sides that are more interesting than simply steaming them, which is what I usually do with green beans. This is a great alternative to that without adding too many extraneous or fatty ingredients aside from the butter. I also like the presence of the pearl onions, which I’m not sure if I’ve had before. I’ll definitely keep this in my repertoire for veggie sides because it’s pretty simple and reheats well for the next day’s meal.
Pop Poppa 