chicken breasts with julienned carrots in coconut milk, paprika and sage sauce, and a video to boost my morale

 

Hello dear neighbors! This definitely qualifies as a “classic” in my house. I often make it because it doesn’t involve a lot of work and I have yet to find someone who doesn’t like it. In this recipe, the cooking juices released by the chicken breasts mix with coconut milk and spices (mustard, sage and paprika) as they bake. I add shredded carrot to the meat just before placing the dish in the oven, which saves me from having to prepare (and keep an eye on) a separate side dish of vegetables.

Ingredients (serves 2):

– 2 tsp coconut oil

– 2 chicken breasts, preferably free range

– ½ tsp organic paprika (2 x ¼ tsp)

– 2 tsp dry sage (2 x 1 tsp), OR 1 TBSP fresh sage (2 x ½ TBSP)

– 1 tsp organic mustard (not the dry form), made with distilled white vinegar (not wine vinegar to avoid sulfites)

– 120 ml coconut milk, with as few additives as you can find

– ¼ tsp unrefined sea salt OR pink Himalayan salt, without any additives

– 3 nice size carrots, brushed and washed (no need to peel them if they are organic)

Equipment :

a skillet, a baking dish, and a julienne grater

How to :

(Pre-heat your oven to 195°C / 390°F)

1. Season 2 chicken breasts with ¼ tsp paprika and 1 tsp / ½ TBSP sage on each side.

2. In a skillet, brown the meat on both sides over medium-high heat in 2 tsp coconut oil. Remove from heat and transfer to a baking dish.

3. Add 1 tsp mustard, 120 ml coconut milk and ¼ tsp salt to the warm skillet (heat off). Stir to combine well.

4. Cut the carrots into thin strips (”Julienne” is the technical term!) straight over the pan juices. Mix before placing on top of the chicken breasts; cover with aluminum foil or parchment paper to let the steam and more juices fall at the bottom of the dish.

5. Bake between 20 and 25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat.  Enjoy!

*When I julienne carrots with my special grater, I always end up with “carrot cores” such as these… which I munch on, rabbit style, while I wait for the food to be ready!

not pretty, but edible!

When the weather stays hot and dry (FYI: only a few millimeters of rain altogether over the last three months, and once again today the temperature rose well above 30°C) I lose energy and motivation. Too hot to go outside, and even if I find plenty of other things to keep busy inside, my moral is affected. Looking at our backyard I feel like I am watching nature die a slow death. It has been a very punitive summer for us, dear neighbors, and we are just lucky that we don’t also have to worry about wildfires. With the watering ban, we have only been able to save our tomato plants, probably because they were placed where they get partial shade from one of our walnut trees. I was thus feeling quite down when at the end of the news program on French TV two nights ago they had a report on Gora Ndiyae, a man in Senegal who, through tenacity and hard work, managed to turn what used to be desert land into a productive piece of farm land. His first step was to plant coconut trees in order to create an ecosystem. Years later, all sorts of fruits, flowers and vegetables thrive in the shade of the grown trees. I found some videos on YouTube about Kaydara, (his farm), unfortunately for most of my neighbors, in French. However, even without any knowledge of French, the tour of the garden is very telling… and uplifting. Just what I needed.

I hope you are all doing well, dear neighbors, and I hope I haven’t brought your morale down with this post. To end on a better note, let me say I am happy to report that our bird bath is being visited every day by our thirsty feathery friends!  Keep well and take care, everybody!