Oh *&^%$#@! I'm out of. . .

It happens to just about everyone. You're halfway through making a recipe and you realize, "Oh, expletive, I'm out of x!" You have a few choices at this point.

• Stop what you're doing and go get the ingredients in question. This usually isn't too practical, as most recipes call for certain amounts of multitasking. You may also be too close to the end of the recipe to stop.
• Ask a household member to go acquire the ingredient. This may get you some grumbles and resentment, especially if the game is on, or they're about to finally conquer the planet Traal.
• Find a substitute and move on.

In this week's recipe, when I started, I was quite sure I had everything in the house. This will teach me to physically verify everything before starting, no matter how well I feel I know my kitchen.

Sautee'd chicken breasts in creamy chive sauce:

•     4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, (about 1 pound), trimmed of fat
•     1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
•     1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
•     3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
•     2 large shallots, finely chopped
•     1/2 cup dry white wine I could have sworn we had some white wine in the house, but as it turns out, we did not. I could have used more chicken broth, I considered using more chicken broth with a touch of lemon juice. Instead, I decided on beer. The beer in question was LandShark lager.
•     1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
•     1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
•     1 tablespoon Dijon mustard Another thing I could have sworn I had in the fridge. We have stone-ground mustard, and we have a Polish mustard. I think Austin has the dijon. We also have hot Chinese mustard powder, but that wasn't appropriate here. I went with the Polish, which would go well with the beer. I wasn't sorry at all.
•     1/2 cup chopped chives, (about 1 bunch) 

 1.  Place chicken between sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet or heavy skillet until flattened to an even thickness, about 1/2 inch. Season both sides of the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place 1/4 cup flour in a shallow glass baking dish and dredge the chicken in it. Discard the excess flour.

I love my meat mallet. Be warned, you may scare other members of your household if you cackle madly while pounding your chicken.

   2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate, cover and keep warm.

I'm never sure what they mean by "keep warm" in recipes. With precious little fat and liquid, keeping it in the oven at even 200 would dry it out. I covered it with aluminum foil.

   3. Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring constantly and scraping up any browned bits, until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour; stir to coat. Add wine, broth and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil, stirring often.

If you end up using beer like I did, it'll start out a little foamy. It will resolve itself.

   4. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until heated through and no longer pink in the center, about 6 minutes. Stir in sour cream and mustard until smooth; turn the chicken to coat with the sauce. Stir in chives and serve immediately.

This came out delicious, a very velvety sauce, with fresh chives. I plan to try it with the wine and the dijon, so look for that later this summer! This was served with roasted cauliflower, which I'll write about in a future entry!

Next week, I explore one of the controversial foods on the popular Paleo diet and make sweet potato hash!

Questions? Comments? Have a recipe you want me to try? Let's hear it!