Back in the Kitchen Again

I loved my vacation. I even loved having every morsel food prepared for me and set before me, and someone else doing all the dishes. I had a whole month of that, and really – what’s not to like,  other than a dearth of organic, local food, whole grains, and vegetables? Even I can live on common food for a month if someone else is fixing it.

Nevertheless, I am quite happy to be back in my kitchen. Just to prove it, here’s what’s happened tonight:

Gorgonzola-Stuffed Chicken with Strawberry Gastrique served on a bed of spinach with roasted asparagus and baked potato.

I had fun with it. First, a cup of mashed strawberries, to which I added 1/2 cup each of sugar, chicken broth, and sherry vinegar, and a bit coriander.  While this simmered down to a thick sauce (about 30 minutes),

I mixed up 1/4 cup Gorgonzola cheese with 2 oz prosciutto and 1 tsp of thyme. I stuffed this into the chicken breasts…

 …and browned them on both sides in a bit of olive oil over medium heat. Covering them with a lid at this point let them finish cooking through in about fifteen minutes.

I thought asparagus would be perfect with this, and it was, but because the organic asparagus was $6 per bunch, I could only buy one bunch. With three of us to feed tonight, that wasn’t enough vegetables to satisfy me. So I zapped some spinach and decided it would make a pretty bed for the chicken.

The wine was an Italian white Soave. Perfect!