Peppercorn Chicken with Lemon Spinach

recipe from foodnetwork:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/peppercorn-chicken-with-lemon-spinach-recipe/index.html


Ingredients (dinner for two)
main dish:
boneless chicken breast (about 1 pound)
1 tablespoons dijon mustard (or eyeball it)


spice mix:
2 to 3 teaspoons coarsely ground mixed peppercorns
3/4 teaspoon dry rosemary
salt


sauce:
1 shallot, chopped or sliced
1/3 cup brandy or red wine
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon or more dry parsley
2 tbsp of mustard (to taste and to thicken the sauce)


directions:
1. preheat oven to 350 F
2. clean chicken breast, spread on mustard
3. sprinkle on spice mix, rub and pat gently to make sure seasoning sticks on
4. heat oil in pan, put in chicken breast, cook until golden brown on medium high heat, about 3 min on each side
5. take chicken from pan and put into oven safe container and bake for 10 minutes until done. save pan and remaining oil for sauce later.
6. Add chopped shallots to pan from earlier step.  Pan on medium high heat. Stir once a while and cook shallot until soft
7. Remove pan from heat, add red wine and chicken broth. Boil for about 2 min
8. Stir in mustard and parsley to the sauce
9. When chicken is done, put in a big plate. pour shallot sauce over it. 


spinach:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound spinach
pinch salt
1 thin slice of lemon


//1 tablespoon oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic; cook about 30 seconds. Add the spinach, season with salt and cook until wilted; add the lemon. Serve with chicken dish above or whatever main entree you're cooking 


Notes:
We made a bit more sauce than we needed but it can be poured over other side dishes you may have. I really liked the taste of the shallot red wine sauce and the chicken by itself is already very savory. How can you go wrong with mustard, rosemary, and peppercorn? Upon reviewing the measurements I noticed that we may have put too much spice mix for the halved portion that we were making. Oh well. The spinach is green, tasty, and goes perfect with chicken. J. also made some tricolor tortellini with vodka sauce. 


Since J. and I only cooked for the two of us, I didn't get batches of fresh herbs. In the recipe it asks for fresh rosemary and parsley. I didn't think we'd use up the fresh herbs before they went bad. If you use dry herb, just add a bit more than the recipe. If you don't have mixed peppercorn you can probably use black pepper, it just may not have as much flavor as the mixed one. We got a small grinder bottle of four seasons mixed peppercorn (green pepper, black pepper, white pepper, and red berries) which I thought was fantastic. 


On the recipe page you will see people's reviews. I noticed that many people added sliced mushroom to the sauce which makes sense. A lot of people also made mashed potatoes or some potato side dish. Get creative and try a slight variation of the recipe!