Crunchy Mustard-Glazed Chicken with Fennel Potatoes

March 28, 2014 Category Chicken 1 Comment Tags chicken, Martha Stewart, mashed potatoes, mustard, saturday night live

If you ever got famous (or infamous) enough to be parodied on Saturday Night Live, which cast member (past or present) would you want to play you?

I think about this on a semi-regular basis, even though I have no plans to become famous anytime soon. I think I’d pick Kristen Wiig (circa 2007) or Jane Curtin (circa 1978). This is actually a pretty fun game to play with all your friends and family, but be careful — my husband and I got into a bit of a tiff when I said he’d be played by Norm MacDonald and he said I’d be played by Molly Shannon. Although we both swore we were being complimentary, both of us were deeply offended.

A good SNL impression can actually make me like a celebrity much better than I did before — and a great example of that is Martha Stewart (who this chicken recipe is adapted from). I scoured the entire internet to try to find you guys a link to Ana Gasteyer doing Martha Stewart’s topless Christmas special, but apparently it doesn’t exist. You’ll have to settle for this, and once you watch it, go ahead and make this chicken.

But try to keep your top on.

CRUNCHY MUSTARD-GLAZED CHICKEN WITH FENNEL POTATOES (chicken adapted from Martha Stewart; potatoes adapted from Food Network)

4 boneless chicken breasts halves, pounded thin
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
4 tbsp melted butter, divided
1/4 cup Dijon mustard, divided
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme, plus more for garnish
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp cornstarch

1. Preheat oven to 375. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper and place on baking sheet that has been lightly coated with oil/nonstick spray.
2. In small bowl, combine 2 tbsp melted butter and 2 and 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard. Pour mustard mixture evenly over chicken breasts, coating them completely.
3. In second small bowl, combine remaining 2 tbsp melted butter, panko, thyme, and salt and pepper. Coat chicken pieces with panko mixture, then bake until chicken is pink and no longer cooked through, 15-20 minutes (depending on thickness of chicken pieces).
4. While chicken bakes, add chicken broth, heavy cream, and remaining 1 and 1/2 tbsp mustard to large skillet. Heat over medium heat, stir with wooden spoon, and let simmer 2-3 minutes. Mix 1 tbsp cornstarch with 1 tbsp hot water, and stir cornstarch mixture to skillet and stir until thickened.
5. Serve chicken with mustard sauce and mashed potatoes (recipe below).

Fennel Potatoes:

3 Yukon gold potatoes, cut into quarters
4 garlic cloves, pressed or smashed
salt and pepper
1 and 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
3 tbsp olive oil
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup chopped parsley

Boil potatoes and garlic cloves in large pot full of salted water until tender, about 20 minutes. While potatoes boil, heat olive oil in small skillet. Once oil is hot, add fennel seeds and toast until fragrant, 3-4 minutes. When potatoes and garlic are done, drain and return to pan. Add fennel oil, salt and pepper, lemon juice and zest, and parsley.  Mash with a potato masher and serve warm, with chicken and mustard sauce.

This was one of the best dinners we’ve had in a long time. The chicken was great, the mustard sauce was delicious, and it tasted so great over the fennel potatoes. I could probably eat this every week!