Lemon Tarragon Chicken

Lemon Tarragon Chicken
http://savoryseasonings.blogspot.com/

4 chicken breasts
3 Lemons (2 zested and juiced, 1 cut into slices)
½ cup Chicken broth (or ½ cup of broth created from deglazing sauté pan)
Tarragon, dried
Salt
Pepper

Wash and dry chicken breasts, then trim any fat off chicken, then slice breasts in half horizontally to create 2 thin strips of chicken. Dry chicken breasts one more time to ensure all moisture has been removed (the chicken will get a better golden sear and there won’t be any popping in the oil from water droplets).

Heat a sauté pan over medium heat. After waiting several minutes for the pan to become hot, add a small amount of olive oil (1 TBSP) and wait one minute for the oil to become hot, then place chicken breasts in oil and season with salt and pepper. Once the meat has made contact with the pan, leave it alone until you see it browning around the edges. You don’t want to move the chicken until the chicken is golden brown. Flip and continue cooking until the other side is equally browned. Remove chicken from pan and add 1/2 cup water to deglaze the pan. Reserve broth from pan and add chicken back into the sauté pan.

Sprinkle chicken breasts with the juice of one lemon, tarragon and lemon zest. Top with lemon slices, then bake in the oven at 350 F for 5 minutes. While chicken is finishing baking in the oven, combine the ½ cup of broth created from deglazing the pan (or by using ½ cup of chicken broth) and the juice from one lemon. After chicken has cooked in the oven for 5 minutes, pour the chicken broth mixture over chicken and bake for 5 additional minutes.

Serve with a rice pilaf.

*****
This is such a simple dish with such great flavor. Tarragon is a perfect compliment for chicken but a little goes a long way. Too much and it becomes overpowering. I enjoy adding a little bit of lemon zest to the rice pilaf. Thanks to my Mom for this great recipe.