Chicken Pot Pie & French Style Peas

Last night some friends arrived to stay for the week and I thought it would be fun to cook them dinner.  For the last few weeks I’ve been going through my head trying to decide what to make.  Then last week I saw an episode of Jamie Oliver’s “Meals in Minutes” and he made this quick, easy chicken pot pie and french style peas.  I thought that was perfect!

I made the pot pie just as the recipe suggests.  However... on the show, Jamie uses this baking tin that goes from the stove to the oven.  He even mentions that it’s a cheap tin that he got for a few pounds.  I couldn’t find anything like that here.  Everything was really expensive or it couldn’t go on the stovetop (such as Pyrex or stoneware).  I looked online to see if I could purchase the tins from the UK, and you can, but it would cost $100.  Ridiculous.  I told Michael ‘I know what we’re bringing back from our next trip to the UK’.  Also, I cheated on the puff pastry because I was lazy and it wasn’t as good as it could’ve been.  I didn’t feel like dusting with flour and making a mess, so I rolled the puff pastry between 2 sheets of wax paper.  But it got too warm and stuck to the wax paper and then of course did not puff as much.  Overall the dish was very good and I will make it again.  But now I know, don’t be lazy.

The peas - I altered slightly.  The original recipe calls for mint and lemon.  I thought I had a lemon, but when I went to use it, it was fuzzy.  So no lemon.  And I am just not a mint and pea person.  I’m very particular about mint in general.  So, I used herbs from my garden - parsley and two types of thyme.  This dish was really good!  Surprisingly so.  I figured it would be a nice simple side, but the slight rue and all of the flavors combined nicely in a rich broth that is perfect with the lightness of the peas and romaine.  I highly recommend both of these dishes.  They are super easy and yummy and perfect for a weeknight meal.

Parmesan Chicken with Caesar Roasted Romaine

This dish is SO good!  I found this recipe about a week ago via Flipboard.  It was posted originally by Bon Appetite, so I was pretty sure it was going to be good.  It seemed easy and low in calories, so it was a perfect weeknight recipe.  Honestly though, I did not expect it to be this good!  I do contribute part of its yumminess to the fact that I bought some fantastic chicken breasts from Whole Foods.  They were more expensive than I would normally spend, but I think they were worth it.  It was so moist and juicy and super easy to make.

I was also fascinated by the idea of roasting the romaine.  Roasting it gives it this great depth of flavor - it really intensifies the crisp freshness of the lettuce, while the texture becomes luscious and velvety.  I topped it with olive oil, garlic, salt, and white pepper before it went into the oven and when I took it out, I added parsley and a sprinkle of parmesan.  I decided not to add the anchovies because, although I like the flavor of anchovies, I’m not a fan of the fillets.

The best part, one breast and ½ romaine heart is 360 calories!!  I love it!!  I definitely plan on making this often.

Some notes:

When I took the chicken out of the oven, I left it on the pan, tented in aluminum foil for about 10 mins.

Also, my chicken took about 20-25 mins to cook fully