Recipes

4  6 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and clean

¼ C  buttermilk

1  C pecan pieces

½  t cayenne pepper

1  t kosher salt

½ t garlic powder

PAM or vegetable oil spray

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Place pecans, pepper, salt, and garlic powder in a food processor.  Pulse until mixture is finely chopped.

Add milk to a large mixing bowl.  Add chicken and lightly toss.  In another mixing bowl, add pecan mixture.  One by one add milk coated chicken breasts to pecan mixture and form crust by rolling in mixture.   Place crusted breast onto a non-stick pan, lightly sprayed with PAM.

Place pan into preheated oven and bake until brown and firm, about 20 minutes.  (Internal chicken temperature on instant read thermometer should be 165°F.

Honey Mustard Cream Sauce

2 C chicken stock or 1 14oz can low sodium

1 C heavy cream

2 T Dijon Mustard

2 T honey

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

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In a small saucepan over medium high heat, reduce chicken stock down to about ¾ of a cup.  This will take about 15 minutes.

Add heavy cream and reduce heat to medium.    Allow mixture to reach a slow boil, stirring and being careful not to allow the cream to boil over. Decrease heat to low and allow the mixture to reduce in volume for about 30 minutes.  Add honey and mustard.  Adjust the salt and pepper.

Serves 12 (makes 1 10-inch cake)

For the cake:

2 ½ C sugar

1 scant cup – cocoa

2 ½ C boiling Water

2 Eggs plus one egg yolk

1 T vanilla

1 scant cup – vegetable oil

2 ½ C AP flour

1 ½ t baking soda

1 t salt

● Preheat oven to 375°.

●  Sift together sugar and cocoa.

●  Mix together: eggs, egg yolk, vanilla and oil .

●  Sift together in a bowl: flour, baking soda, and salt.

●  Add hot water to the cocoa mix, then whisk in the oil/egg mixture.

●  Stir flour into the batter in three stages. Do not over mix.  Make sure that there are no flour lumps.

●  Pour into a greased and floured 10 “ cake pan.

●  Bake @ 375° F for approximately 1/2 hour or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

●   Allow to cool completely before applying chocolate ganache.

To garnish, sprinkle with confectioners sugar or serve with fresh berries.

●  Add water to bottom of a double boiler, not high enough to touch top pot or bowl.

●  Place butter and cream in double boiler top bowl and heat until the butter has melted and the liquid is hot.  Remove from heat.

●  Add chocolate and let stand for one minute.

●  Whisk the mix thoroughly until the three ingredients are combined.

●  Let the chocolate, cream and butter mixture sit at room temperature until firm.  It must be firm enough to spread.

* The Ganache is also used as the icing, poured warm across the cake, and allowed to cool and harden.