Guest Author - Eileen Brown
Close your eyes and take one bite. Chicken with Rum Sauce and the accompanying side dishes of Coconut Rice and Sweet Plantains will transport you to the Caribbean islands!
Read the recipes through and you'll see that each dish is prepared with just a few simple steps and you can make this entire meal in well under an hour.
So put on your flip-flops, crank up the steel drum music and head for the kitchen! Make yourself a breezy, tropical rum cocktail! A weeknight mini-vacation awaits you!
Start the rice first. It will cook on its own while you prepare the rest of the meal.
Coconut Rice
1 tablespoon butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh gingerroot, minced (optional)
1 cup rice, long grain or Jasmine
1 cup water
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt
Heat the butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onion and gingerroot and sauté until tender. Add the rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent it from burning. Add the water, coconut milk and salt. When liquids come to a boil give the rice a quick stir with a fork. Turn the heat down to low, cover tightly and let cook while you prepare the chicken.
Chicken with Rum Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup dark rum
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups light cream
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Place flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a plastic food storage bag. Shake to blend. Add chicken breasts one at a time and shake to coat with flour mixture. Place chicken breasts carefully in the skillet and cook tilled browned on one side, about 5 minutes. Turn and brown on the other side, about another five minutes. Remove the chicken breasts from the skillet and set aside.
Return the skillet to heat and add the butter and onions. Cook until onions are translucent, scraping any remaining bits of flour or chicken into the butter-onion mixture. Add rum and sugar and reduce by half, stirring frequently. Add the cream and reduce that by half, stirring frequently. Before serving, return the chicken breasts to the skillet and cook over low heat until heated thoroughly. While the cream is reducing, prepare the plantains:
Sweet Plantains
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 very ripe plantains, peeled and sliced in half length-wise
1 lime, cut into wedges
salt
Place the olive oil and butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add the plantains and sauté 3-5 minutes on each side, moving the plantains around a bit in the skillet to prevent them from sticking. Remove them to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Serve them with a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of salt.
