In this recipe, each chicken breast half is baked in its own foil packet with a lemon-tarragon sauce and sliced mushrooms: so flavorful and so moist! Serve this lemon tarragon chicken with potatoes, rice, or any type of grain, plus a vegetable or a salad, and you have a quick, delicious meal!
I have been making this recipe for many years. In fact, I made it so often awhile back that I had to take a break from it for a time, and just tonight I made it again. No wonder I used to make it so often! It is so tasty and so easy! It’s easy, but it tastes like something special. I think it’s the baking of the chicken in the foil packet. The foil keeps in all that moisture, and the lemon juice, olive oil, and tarragon blend together so nicely. This recipe is very loosely adapted from a cookbook called 365 Ways to Cook Chicken by Cheryl Sedaker. Over the years I have tweaked it here and there to fit our tastes.
Do you ever feel like the forces of chaos have been unleashed into your life? That’s how I have been feeling this week, and in times like that, it’s good to fall back on a meal that is reliable, comforting, and nourishing. I can’t even quite explain what has been going on–I think it’s just a lot of little things happening all at once. In any case, food is a constant, food is a comfort. We all have to eat, no matter what is going on, or how crazy our days can become. If we can make eating enjoyable and restorative, then we are doing one important thing toward fostering a feeling of goodwill, toward building up rather than breaking down. And if we can pick some flowers and put them in a vase, so much the better!
One thing I love about this recipe is that there is minimal prep work, and then it bakes in the oven for twenty minutes. During that twenty minutes this evening, I also put some asparagus, mixed with garlic and Parmesan cheese, in the oven to roast along with the chicken, and then threw together some mashed potatoes. It all came together pretty quickly, yet it tasted like a real meal that took lots of time to prepare. Super-satisfying, yet easy on the one doing the cooking.
I hope you all have a great weekend! This is the perfect time to eat outdoors as much as possible, and don’t forget to marvel at all the beautiful flowers! I am adding this recipe to Angie’s Fiesta Friday, co-hosted this week by Quinn @ dadwhats4dinner and Elaine @ Foodbod.
Lemon Tarragon Chicken
Ingredients:
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups of fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup of sweet onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried tarragon
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 4 teaspoons of lemon juice
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, chopped onion, tarragon, salt, and lemon juice. Stir well.
Tear off four sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil, about 12 by 18 inches. Line them up on your counter. Place a chicken breast on the lower half of each piece of foil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Evenly top each piece with the mushroom slices. Spoon the olive oil-lemon juice mixture evenly over each piece of chicken and mushrooms.
Fold the upper half of the foil down and seal it with the lower half. Make a series of locked folds all the way around the foil to seal each foil packet. Fold the edges for a tighter seal, while still allowing room for the heat to circulate and expand. Place the foil packets on a baking sheet and bake in your 450-degree oven for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is done and no longer pink. Cut an X in the top of each foil packet, fold the foil back, and transfer the chicken and mushrooms to a plate. Pour the remaining juices over the chicken, if desired. Serve with potatoes, rice, or a grain of your choice, plus a vegetable and/or salad. Enjoy!
I am constantly striving for a balance between eating well and staying within a reasonable food budget. If left to my own devices, I am like a kid in a candy store when I go into places like Whole Foods or the little gourmet food shop I recently discovered. However, with many other things going on, staying within a reasonable food budget is a necessity and a challenge I enjoy, so when I find an inexpensive, healthy, and delicious meal, I keep it in our regular meal rotation. This white bean wrap recipe is one of those, and though it varies a little bit from week to week depending on which vegetables are in season, when it comes to taste and economy, the rice and bean combination always delivers.
Now that the weather has finally warmed up around here, I look forward to more and more fresh vegetables at the farm stands that dot the countryside around my home. Our black raspberries are looking promising so far, and my aunt recently gave me a bunch of rhubarb. I can’t wait to make a pie! Our screened-in porch is all cleaned up and ready, we will be eating out there as often as possible. Last night my husband and I sat out there and listened to the night noises–the insects and frogs, and looked at the stars.
It really is a good meal to have right now, in early March, when we are longing for color, but our gardens have not caught up to that longing yet. And though our snow has all melted and it has warmed up some, it is still cold and damp enough outside to appreciate a nice warm bowl of chili.
Speaking of gardens and color, I did see some crocus and daffodil shoots poking up just above the soil in our yard yesterday. Spring is coming, though here in Michigan I’m sure we have some cold days ahead of us before spring really settles in.
For now, it is the perfect time to tromp around in my favorite boots through mud and wet undergrowth, cleaning up the yard or hiking down to the lake. My friend and I came across these beautiful milkweed pods on a walk the other day.
