Valentine's Day Part 4: Chicken Breasts, Smashed Artichoke Potatoes and Mixed Greens with Lemon Vinaigrette

Okay, so I have been pretty bad about blogging lately. A few things have come up that have kept me from blogging. However, I haven't stopped cooking and now have QUITE the backlog to post! I am going to try to get on it as much as possible, but it may be tough with finals coming up. I promise I will do my best to get through it all!

So for our main course, Awesome Sauce and I dined on Cognac Flambeed Chicken Breasts, Smashed Artichoke Potatoes and Mixed Greens with Lemon Vinaigrette.

This part of the meal was incredibly simple. There was no real recipe for the chicken. You take chicken breasts and coat them in a light layer of kosher salt and cracked black pepper. You then take a pan and put a large pat of butter in said pan (about a tablespoon). You then toss in some sliced almonds and put the whole thing over a medium flame. Once you can smell the almonds, you add the chicken breasts and turn up the heat, searing them on both sides. Finish cooking in the oven or very slowly over the stove. Once you take them out, toss about a shot glass worth of cognac over the chicken breasts and light it on fire!! This is best done at the table for a fun presentation. Unfortunately for us, the chicken breasts didn't want to light! :-( I have heard that others have been successful so we will definitely have to try again sometime. I can be a bit of a pyromaniac :-P

Overall the chicken wasn't bad, but wasn't anything special. We served it with a chardonnay that was recommended for buttery dishes. They did go exceptionally well together. The mixed greens were the same as the bed I placed the Crab Cakes one, so it is reviewed in an earlier post.

The smashed artichoke potatoes were a new one for us and were quite tasty. They were a unique recipe from Allrecipes and can be found here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Artichoke-Mashed-Potatoes/Detail.aspx

I really liked these and am always fascinated by different variations on mashed potatoes. These ones were creamy and garlicky. They artichoke added a "freshness" to them that is difficult to describe. I would definitely recommend these and am considering making them the next time I grill up a steak. Something about the artichoke has me thinking that they would really compliment a steak well. I have tried some strange ones in my day (including peanut butter in mashed potatoes...yes, I am looking at you little sister....), but they are always fun to try.

Here is what the finished dinner looked like:





So, time for the Ratings:

Cognac Flambeed Chicken Breasts:
The Clumsy Gourmet: 6
Awesome Sauce: 4 (Awesome Sauce didn't find them very interesting and was bored by the basically plain chicken breasts. He did, however, very much like the wine with the butter sauce.

Artichoke Smashed Potatoes:
The Clumsy Gourmet: 8
Awesome Sauce: 8