50 Recipes in 2017

In addition to posting daily to my blog, I also resolve to make 50 new-to-me recipes in 2017. This shouldn’t be too tough, honestly, because my husband bought me an Anova sous-vide appliance for Christmas.

Chicken breasts cooking sous vide

This week’s recipe — more research and cobbling-together of ideas than an actual recipe, really — was sous vide chicken breast with balsamic reduction.

I cooked two thawed chicken breasts (skinless and boneless) at 145F for two hours, with some ground ginger for flavor. According to my research, that should result in very moist but slightly stringy (that is, traditionally “done”-tasting) texture. That’s exactly how they turned out.

As for the balsamic reduction, I looked up a few resources that all basically said to simmer the balsamic vinegar until it coats the back of a spoon. Easy enough.

Everything came together when I seared the chicken breasts on my cast iron grill pan, then plated them with the balsamic reduction and a side of fruit.

Sous vide chicken breast with balsamic reduction

Perfectly done, with a strong shot of flavor from the balsamic.

Next time I sous-vide chicken, I’ll try 140F and see how that affects the texture. (Don’t worry; it’s not an unsafe temperature, because I’m actually holding it at that temperature long enough to kill the nasties. The typical 165F for poultry is the “instant” pasteurization temp.)

This is going to be fun!

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