Friday, April 17, 2009

Poulet en Papillot

Yeah, I made that one up, and I'm not entirely certain I spelled it right. But isn't it much more entertaining than titling this "More Chicken"?

After income tax day, a day spent by my dearly beloved roaring
that "Al" had to be all wet about how much more we owed and why didn't I (the wife) know more about AMT, and my researching for the entire day, and ultimately concluding that Al was indeed all wet (but we should overpay anyway), I decided to cater to the man who dreams of a world with no pans. You've heard this rant of his repeated before: "We can send a man to the moon, but we still have to scrub the damn pots???" This chicken was really easy, and easily personalized for those of us who are sensible, and those who like fungus (Hubby and Ryan). Served over rice with a lovely green salad, it did go a long way to soothe the soul of the savage beast, who is, once again, as calm and cheerful as a redhead ever gets to be (said his red headed wife).

POULET EN PAPILLOT

2 pounds chicken, cut into 1/2" x 1/2" strips
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
zest from 1 lemon
2 tsp dill
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 large carrots, quartered lengthwise & cut into slivers
6 ribs celery, prepared same as carrots

Sliced mushrooms
1 onion, minced finely
lemon slices (from the zested lemon)

Cut the chicken into strips. Stir together the lemon juice, zest, olive oil, dill, salt & pepper, and pour over the chicken. Let it all sit for about 15 minutes.

Prepare the carrots and celery. Arrange them on an appropriate number of sheets of parchment paper or foil (which I don't use, because I'm obsessive about scrubbing it clean before discarding it), approx. 15" to 18" long, depending upon the portion size. Arrange the chicken strips atop the veggies, and top with the onion and, if desired, mushrooms. Spoon the marinade over the chicken, top with lemon slices, and fold the parchment or foil over, crimping tightly to seal. Arrange on a baking sheet and bake at 500F, or (if using foil) cook on the grill for about 20 minutes, until the rice is done. Give everyone his or her own personal packet, and they'll have no excuse for griping about some ingredient that they don't like. Unless, of course, we're talking about my youngest, who can gripe about everything. Yes, my chicken was "blubby". Ah, well, we strive for perfection and fail, don't we?

12 comments:

Anette said...

A classic post as usual!
I might just have to take up some chicken legs from the freezer this moment, because I could just see myself unwrap some chicken tonight!

Christo Gonzales said...

beautiful - and you are right "more chicken wrapped in paper' just doesnt have the same ring....

SissySees said...

I should be embarassed about how happy unwrapping something to eat on my plate makes me. I adore most anything cooked in a pouch, for reasons I can't explain...

Pam said...

Yum. I love that you can personalize them for peoples tastes. What a clever and delicious recipe Marjie.

gMarie said...

Lovely recipe. I want to know - does your dearly beloved actually scrub the pots? g

buffalodick said...

Cooking is a state of mind... so is clean-up!

noble pig said...

I love when food comes in a package. Plus the clean-up is awesome. King of like a crab boil where you just throw it out on newspaper!

Ann Made Studio said...

Now I know this recipe would be a hit in my house...I'll have to try it. It looks greaT!

Anonymous said...

Men and tax rants! Maybe I should have soothed my savage beast with food and scrubbed my own post........hey....I do scrub my own pots (beats going to the moon).

imjacobsmom said...

I know that Jacob would think this was fun. I'm going to have to do this. ~ Robyn

The Blonde Duck said...

I can't believe you fixed dinner after battling the tax man all day. I would have demanded someone take me out or sent someone out for pizza.

Acutally, I would have gotten pizza for everyone else and binged on waffles. :) Waffles make the world go round...

grace said...

i like your name for your dish--it definitely works for me, and my fake french accent is atrocious. :)
what's not atrocious is your chicken. sounds great!