{"id":11242,"date":"2013-04-19T00:30:44","date_gmt":"2013-04-19T04:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=11242"},"modified":"2013-04-18T23:20:05","modified_gmt":"2013-04-19T03:20:06","slug":"at-home-with-gch-chicken-en-papillote-with-pesto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/04\/19\/at-home-with-gch-chicken-en-papillote-with-pesto\/","title":{"rendered":"At Home with GCH: Chicken en Papillote with Pesto"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/chicken-en-papillote.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11246\" alt=\"chicken en papillote\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/chicken-en-papillote-300x199.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/chicken-en-papillote-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/chicken-en-papillote-1024x681.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I know chicken breasts are good for me. \u00a0I know I should eat lots of lean protein. \u00a0But sometimes the idea of choking down a dry, mealy, overcooked hunk of chicken makes me shudder. \u00a0Yuck! \u00a0The trick to cooking chicken breasts is to keep them moist and flavorful, because once they get dry, they&#8217;re only good for throwing on top of a salad and drenching with dressing. \u00a0So I needed something to keep the moisture locked in. \u00a0If you have all day, use a crock pot. \u00a0If you only have an hour, use parchment paper!<\/p>\n<p>Cooking something &#8220;en papillote&#8221; is French for cooking &#8220;in paper.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0You might already have parchment paper if you do a lot of baking, but if not, you can find it near the aluminum foil in the baking aisle. \u00a0This recipe is infinitely customizable&#8212;just use whatever combination of vegetables you like, plus chicken breasts, and some seasoning on top. \u00a0Bake for an hour, open and enjoy!<\/p>\n<p>This recipe is even better slathered with homemade pesto. \u00a0Basil is pretty easy to grow in the yard, so if you have a garden, you can make pesto this summer! \u00a0The recipe has the proportions that I like.\u00a0 You may want to use less garlic, or more oil, to make a thinner sauce. \u00a0Also, most pesto recipes add a little parmesan cheese &#8211; maybe a tablespoon, grated &#8211; to the mix; but I left it out since I am still eating on the Paleo diet. \u00a0If you have leftovers, pesto goes great over pasta of any kind. \u00a0I had a little pesto leftover and I ate it on scrambled eggs &#8211; delicious!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/pesto.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11250\" alt=\"pesto\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/pesto-300x199.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/pesto-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/pesto-1024x681.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chicken en Papillote with Pesto<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ingredients:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 13px;\">4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts<\/span><\/li>\n<li>1 cup baby carrots<\/li>\n<li>2 large zucchini, cut the same size as the baby carrots<\/li>\n<li>salt and pepper<\/li>\n<li>2 teaspoons butter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For the pesto:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 13px;\">2 cups basil leaves<\/span><\/li>\n<li>2 cloves garlic<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 &#8211; 1\/2 cup olive oil<\/li>\n<li>2 tablespoons pine nuts (keep in the freezer so they won&#8217;t go rancid)<\/li>\n<li>1 lemon<\/li>\n<li>salt and pepper<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Directions:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 13px;\">Preheat the oven to 400*F. \u00a0Cut two pieces of parchment paper, about 12 x 24 inches. \u00a0Fold them in half width-wise, then open. \u00a0On one half of the paper, make a bed of half the carrots and zucchini slices; repeat on the second paper. \u00a0Season with salt and pepper. \u00a0Top each bed of vegetables with two chicken breasts, and season with salt and pepper again. \u00a0Divide the butter and drop half a teaspoon of butter on each chicken breast.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Fold the paper in half, to cover the chicken. \u00a0Now you should have an envelope or packet. \u00a0Fold over the long end a few times, then make a triangular fold at each of the corners. \u00a0Now fold over the two short ends several times. \u00a0(There are many ways you can fold the paper to keep it shut. \u00a0I&#8217;ve even gotten frustrated before and stapled them shut! \u00a0Here are some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/blogsandforums\/blogs\/badaily\/2012\/05\/cooking-with-parchment-paper.html\">ideas<\/a> for folding the paper.) \u00a0When you have the two packets closed up, place on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven. \u00a0Cook for one hour, rotating the cookie sheet halfway through to make sure the packets cook evenly.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11248\" alt=\"papillote packet\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/papillote-packet-300x199.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/papillote-packet-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/papillote-packet-1024x681.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>While the chicken is cooking, make the pesto: \u00a0In a food processor, blend the basil leaves, garlic, and 1\/4 cup of olive oil. \u00a0Scrape down the sides, add the pine nuts, and blend again. \u00a0Scrape down the sides again, cut the lemon in half, and add the juice to the pesto. \u00a0If you want the pesto thinner, add more oil. \u00a0Taste&#8230;if you want a stronger lemon flavor, you can add the zest from the lemon too. \u00a0If you are adding parmesan cheese, now is the time! \u00a0Blend again.<\/li>\n<li>To serve, open the packets&#8212;carefully! \u00a0Don&#8217;t get burned on the steam! \u00a0You can put the packets on a plate, or open them in the kitchen and throw out the paper if you like. \u00a0Pass the pesto!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Explore, experiment, enjoy!<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Dana<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>To view even more of Dana\u2019s unique recipes, you can visit her at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/frugalgirlmet.blogspot.com\/\">Frugal Girlmet<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know chicken breasts are good for me. \u00a0I know I should eat lots of lean protein. \u00a0But sometimes the idea of choking down a dry, mealy, overcooked hunk of chicken makes me shudder. \u00a0Yuck! \u00a0The trick to cooking chicken breasts is to keep them moist and flavorful, because once they get dry, they&#8217;re only [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":11246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[9296,183,194,198,279,1191,398,425,2294,757,2295,1722],"class_list":["post-11242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at-home-with-gch","tag-at-home-with-gch","tag-carrots","tag-chicken","tag-chicken-recipes","tag-dana-kim","tag-dinner","tag-frugal-girlmet","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-parchment-paper","tag-pesto","tag-pesto-recipes","tag-zucchini","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/chicken-en-papillote.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-2Vk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11242"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11254,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11242\/revisions\/11254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}