It’s my favorite day of the month, I get to reveal my Secret Recipe Club assignment for July. I’m honored to be a part of this diverse international group of food bloggers. In case you forgot, everyone in the Secret Recipe Club gets “assigned” a blog from which we are supposed to pick a dish to cook. But, it’s all done in secrecy. It isn’t until the ultimate reveal day (today) that everyone showcases the dishes and discovers who’s been their secret foodie link. This club has provided me valuable exposure to blogs I might not otherwise encounter.
My July assignment: Healthy. Delicious blog by Lauren Keating. Lauren is a recipe developer and food photographer with a passion for fresh, healthy food. Lauren started cooking at the young age of 10 and has continued to cook and photograph her food dishes. On her blog, you’ll find gorgeous food photography of simple dishes that (for the most part) should take less than 40 minutes to create.
I also love that she has a section titled, “Cooking for One”. How many times have you been faced with the dilemna of cooking something just for yourself and have defaulted to an unsatisfying makeshift meal?
After I spent a while perusing the site, I decided to adapt Lauren’s Pecan-Crusted Chicken recipe. Last summer I made a Pistachio-Crusted Chicken that was a hit with my extended family so I figured odds were in my favor to experiment Lauren’s with Pecan-Crusted Chicken Salad.
If I told you this recipe was difficult to make, I’d be lying. In fact, it’s so tasty, one would think it took a lot longer than 20 minutes to prepare.
You only need to grind up your pecans, coat them on your egg-washed chicken breast cutlets and cook them on your skillet.
crushed pecans
I didn’t have any apricot preserves on hand so I used some of our homemade strawberry preserves and simply mixed it with balsamic vinegar to achieve a sweet, syrup-like topping.
I omitted the lettuce and added in some jasmine rice to make it heartier for my son.
The final result was a most unusual twist on the generic chicken and rice dinner.
Try it for yourself and make sure to stop by Healthy. Delicious too.
Pecan Crusted Chicken with Strawberry Balsamic Sauce
adapted from Healthy. Delicious
serves 2
Ingredients:
- 1/2 c. pecans
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 lb chicken tenders, pounded to 1/4″
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons strawberry preserves
- 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
Instructions:
- Grind pecans using a food processor.
- Pour into a shallow dish. Put beaten egg in to second shallow dish. Salt and pepper the chicken tenders. Dredge in egg and then in nuts. Shake to remove excess.
- Heat 1 Tbs oil in a large skillet. Cook chicken in batches until cooked through. Set aside on a paper towel lined plate.
- Meanwhile make dressing: mix preserves and vinegar. Slowly whisk in oil until combined.
- Arrange chicken on top rice. Drizzle with dressing and liberally top with cracked pepper.
That is such a creative recipe! Love the strawberry balsamic sauce, very nice take to complement the chicken
Cooking for One is a nice chapter to have in a blog, gotta check that out.
Have a great Reveal Day!
I love pecan rub, so I am sure I would love this recipe, it is so innovative and I love the sound of the strawberry balsamic sauce too……a perfect SRC pick! Karen
What a beautiful choice – thank you for sharing!!
What a delicious, easy, yet fancy looking dish! Great pick this month 🙂
Oh my! This looks incredible. I love the combination of pecan and strawberry. Definetely going to have to try this. Great pick!
Love your strawberry-balsamic variation! Great SRC pick!
YUM! Sounds great!!! awesome choice…
YES! This is the perfect recipe for me to see as I just got a food processor!! 🙂 I’ve been seeing a lot of berry sauces for chicken lately too. I need to jump on this bandwagon already. Pinned to share – happy reveal day!
Oh wow you really dug back into my archives with this one – I didn’t even recognize it as being my recipe! haha
I love your strawberry balsamic sauce… yum!
Great choice! We are huge chicken eaters at our house..this is on my list to try 🙂 Looks yummy!
Yummy! Looks so yummy. I really loved having your blog “assigned” to me this past month, you have a ton of awesome recipes and such a great blog full of loads of mouth-watering photography!
Casey – thanks so much. It means a lot to me and appreciate the kind write up too!