Chicken Breast

If you don’t have any broth on hand, you can use plain cold water in a pinch, but using broth or bouillon makes for more flavorful couscous. Depending on your climate, oven temperature, and how thickly you sprayed the oil on the pot, the couscous may have some crunchy spots where it browned. To avoid this, spray the pot generously with oil and stir carefully to expose all the grains when adding the broth. Fluff the couscous with a fork when serving to separate the grains. If you don’t like halibut, try using salmon fillets or steaks instead. Or substitute two chicken breasts for the fish.

Chicken nuggets are so yummy and fun to eat—what kid doesn’t beg for them for dinner? We make our own using white meat chicken coated in cornflakes with a little honey-lemon sauce for dipping—it’s a healthier alternative to what you get handed to you through your car window.

This pasta salad is one of Jamie’s “greatest hits” meals. It’s perfect for leftover grilled or store-bought rotisserie chicken, and it’s got everything we could want Jack to eat in it: pasta, chicken, and veggies. A little ranch dressing makes the salad nice and creamy and helps bring all the ingredients together.

Jamie’s a fan of shrimp scampi, but Jack is not. Turns out they can both agree on this chicken version.

We took Mama’s classic pineapple rings off the ham and put them on our grilled chicken breasts. This sweet-and-sour, quick-cooking dish is a real crowd-pleaser. Pineapple slices coated in brown sugar and Bourbon turn sweet and caramelized on the grill, and a salad dressing marinade makes the chicken tangy, moist, and tender. Perfect with a nice green spinach salad.

Coating chicken with mayonnaise and spices before you bake it not only makes for a beautifully browned outside, it also helps bring out the flavor of your seasonings. We use the same technique for our beer-in-the-rear whole chicken on the grill. But chicken breasts cook up faster, and this preparation couldn’t be simpler.

Serve this lean, veggie-heavy stir-fry with white rice to sop up the delicious Tabasco-spiked soy sauce.

We can get behind any recipe with peanut butter in it! This savory dish, with just a hint of fiery red pepper flakes, is a nod to our favorite Thai take-out dish from Kao Thai in Savannah. Best of all, it’s based on ingredients you probably already have in the house.

We perfected making honey mustard during the early days at The Lady & Sons, where it’s served mostly on the side as a condiment, or as a dipping sauce for the kids’ menu (see The Lady & Sons Honey Mustard Sauce, page 159). At home, we throw store-bought honey mustard in with chicken for this family-pleasing dish that’s a little sweet on the outside and nice and juicy inside. Warm macaroni and mozzarella salad is a nice complement to the chicken.

In his late twenties, Jamie spent a lot of time eating at his favorite pizza place in Savannah, called Cousin Vinny’s. He became obsessed with their pesto pizza, which uses savory basil sauce in place of the usual tomato. We don’t eat quite as much pizza these days, but we do keep pesto in our freezers for whenever we want fresh garlic and basil flavor. Try tossing pesto with cherry tomatoes and leftover grilled chicken and serve it on top of greens for a main-course salad, or make this easy, healthy recipe, which takes about fifteen minutes and looks as good as it tastes. For a little decadence, try serving it with Cheesy Garlic Bread (page 102).

Coca-Cola was born in Atlanta in 1886, when pharmacist Dr. John Stith Pemberton took his new creation to Jacobs’ Pharmacy—where minutes after it was first sampled, it became a sensation. I love the stuff, in no small part because it’s a fantastic global brand from Georgia . . . just like me. What a lot of people outside of the South don’t realize is that Coke can be more than a “delicious and refreshing” drink; it’s a great ingredient to use in a marinade because it’s sweet and because the carbonation can be useful in tenderizing meat. It needs some balance, though, which is what the bacon does here: it adds a salty flavor and a crisp texture to the chicken. This dish is great for afternoon barbecues when you’re chilling by the pool. Serve it with your favorite potato salad (see page 116).

People often asked me, as I was writing this book, What should I do with chicken breasts? I think they want to cook chicken breasts because they are lean (therefore supposedly good for you) and quick to prepare, but there’s that persistent problem that there are inevitably two to a package, too much for a single meal. Frankly, I see that not as a problem but as an asset, because, again, you have something to play with for a second round. Here is a basic recipe for cooking the chicken so that it is flavorful and not dried out; it can be varied in as many ways as there are vegetables in season. I confess that I prefer dark chicken meat over light; if you feel the same way, just substitute two leg-thigh pieces for the breast meat, and cook about 5 minutes longer.

Contrary to popular belief, chicken tetrazzini was served at many upscale restaurants throughout the United States in the early 1900s. The dish was inspired and named after the great Italian opera star Luisa Tetrazzini, and it was widely popular. In fact, it was so popular that home cooks everywhere began trying to re-create the famous dish in their homes, and it lost its appeal as a gourmet delicacy in fine dining establishments. Lucky for us at home, we can still enjoy this amazingly good comfort dish with our family and friends, unfettered by any unnecessary pretenses. Typically it is made with heavy creams and lots of butter, but we have found some healthier substitutions, such as low-fat cream cheese, which still provides the decadence and creaminess of the original. The opera isn’t over until the fat lady sings, but this much lighter version of a comfort food favorite will leave you enjoying the music!

All hail to the Queen! If you’re a fan of our Traditional King Ranch Casserole (page 41), you will love this lighter version, which delivers on taste but not on fat. We cut out the creamy soups to home in on the flavors from the green chiles and Rotel tomatoes. That’s not to say that this dish is super-spicy; it has a kick, but is overall very fresh. The cornstarch and broth mixture is called a slurry, and is used to thicken soups, stews, and sauces. Here are a few tips for making a slurry: Never add cornstarch directly to a hot liquid or it will lump; slurries should be 1 part cornstarch to 2 parts liquid, and, when stirred, should have the consistency of heavy cream; if you don’t have cornstarch, you can substitute flour—just use twice as much.

When sick, people typically head straight for chicken noodle soup or some other mild-flavored, broth-based soup to nurse them back to health. Not Crystal. Oddly enough, when Crystal is feeling a little under the weather, she craves spice to comfort her. We’re talking hot-and-sour soup, pho with lots of Sriracha sauce, and her ultimate cure-all favorite, curry! Extremely satisfying, this dish’s fragrant spices alone will perk you right up. Serve over steamed jasmine rice or with traditional Indian bread called naan.

Tomato or cream sauce? Who says you have to choose? This casserole combines marinara and Alfredo sauces to create a lovely pink sauce. The cream balances the acidity of the tomatoes, while sophisticated ingredients such as prosciutto and capers add an inviting gourmet touch to the meal. This recipe is perfect for Valentine’s Day, first dates, or anniversaries. Not only will there be a pleasing blush to your meal, but perhaps to your sweetie, too!