Happy Birthday to Me - Allergen Free

Today is my 40th birthday, I can’t believe how time has flown. I will soon be celebrating my 2 year anniversary of finding out about my food allergies, which is a birthday of sorts as well. I have truly enjoyed learning and sharing how to cook, shop and dine allergen free and hope the recipes and products on my site have added to the quality of your allergen free lives. Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see, I know I don’t do a lot of baking, but am feeling the itch to dig in and figure out the secrets of a perfect cake, pie or crusty piece of bread, stay tuned! In the mean time please enjoy this yummy chicken dish with a touch of sweetness - your whole family will be asking for seconds.

Chicken with Maple Syrup Reduction and Pancetta Garni
Serves 6


6 slices pancetta
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup spanish or sweet onions, diced
4 chicken breasts (about 2 pounds), cut in ½ and pounded to same thickness, use a plastic bag to avoid chicken splatter
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
pinch black pepper
2 cloves garlic, creamed
½ cup maple syrup
3/8 cup balsamic vinegar
½ cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Place pancetta on baking sheet and brush with maple syrup.
Cook pancetta until crispy, about 15 minutes, set aside to cool.
Pre-heat a large sauté pan on med-hi heat for 1 minute, add olive oil and heat another minute.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over both sides of the chicken breast.
Sauté chicken until about 2/3rds of the way thru, you will notice beads of sweat start to form on the top of the chicken breasts.
Flip chicken and add onion, sauté 4 minutes.
Add garlic and sauté another minute.
Remove chicken from pan.
Add balsamic vinegar to deglaze pan for 1 minute.
Add maple syrup, chicken stock and Dijon mustard & reduce liquid by ½.
Return chicken to pan to reheat.

This dish is wonderful with sautéed spinach as the base (see recipe below) and then chicken topped with pancetta. Add sauce to plate around food.

Enjoy!

Sauteed Spinach

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, creamed
2 cups baby spinach
Kosher salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Take large saute pan and heat over medium high flame.
Add olive oil and let pan heat another minute.
Add onion and cook until translucent, don’t brown.
Add garlic and cook for one minute.
Add spinach and cook until desired consistency.