This recipe comes to you courtesy Giada de Lorentiis, by way of my good friend Briana. The final results will wow your guests, but the recipe is a tad involved. Although the steps are easy to follow, this recipe does require that you be in the kitchen nearly the entire time. For me, this was about an hour. If you're serving four good-size portions, I'd recommend increasing it by half.
Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and ground black pepper
All-purpose flour
6 tbsp shallots, sliced
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 10-oz packages frozen cut-leaf spinach, thawed and drained
Directions
Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour to coat lightly. Shake of any excess flour. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until brown, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a place and tent with foil to keep it warm.
Melt 2 tbsp of butter in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and saute until the shallots are translucent, stirring to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the skillet (about 1 minute). Add the wine. Increase the heat to medium-high, and boil until the liquid is reduced by half (about 3 minutes). Add the cream, and boil until the sauce reduced by half, stirring often (about 3 minutes). Stir in the parsley. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and any accumulated juices to the sauce. Turn the chicken to coat in the sauce.
Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tbsp butter in another large skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach and saute until heated through. Season the spinach to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange the spinach over a platter. Place the chicken atop the spinach. Pour the sauce over and serve. (Try serving it atop bow tie pasta!)
