Since all of my bowls and whisks and baking tins have been neatly wrapped and packed, no baking for me for probably the next few months :( I still have one more sturdy paper liner so maybe a nice muffin will come from that. The occasional microwaved mug cakes just aren't as fulfilling as fresh oven-baked goods..I miss my oven dearly.
But I still have my stove! I rarely make fancy or over-the-top dishes--that's an experiment for later--so here is a really simple cashew-crusted chicken. I think I was browsing on Instagram and someone's photo of nut-crusted chicken inspired me to make this.
I soaked the chicken breasts each in small plastic bags filled with unsweetened almond milk, which made the baked chicken tender, juicy, and surprisingly sweet. The toasted cashew bits have a nice smokey aroma and pleasant crunch; place the cashew-crusted chicken over a bed of garlic-sauteed zucchini and yellow squash ribbons, top with multiple dashes of Grill Shaker's poultry seasoning and you've tied together a healthy and charming ensemble.
You can use salt and pepper too, but I really like this seasoning! The blend of spices contains hints of lemon, thyme, and other herbs (too lazy to fetch the bottle and list ingredients sorry), and it's ZERO calories! Not that that really matters, but it tastes great with chicken, eggs, rice, about anything. Good investment if I must say so myself :)
I made this
dish a second time, but instead of zucchini/yellow squash ribbons, I
placed the chicken over slices of steamed sweet potatoes. Not to my
surprise, the poultry seasoning tasted amazing with the yams. My mom love this seasoning so much she insisted we take several bottles back with us when we leave, they do let you smuggle bring spices in your luggage, right?
Cashew-Crusted Chicken
yields 4 serving
Ingredients:
1 cup cashews (I used raw)
4 pieces chicken breast (not too thick)
1/2-3/4 cup almond milk
olive oil
Grill Shaker's Poultry Seasoning Blend (or salt and pepper if you don't have this)
4 plastic bags
Directions:
- Evenly pour the almond milk into each plastic bag, and slide one chicken breast into each bag. Let this sit and marinate about 30 minutes to an hour.
- Preheat oven to 425° F and line a baking sheet with foil (shiny side down, un-shiny side up). Lightly spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray or drizzle with some olive oil.
- On a cutting board or flat surface, roughly chop the cashews and place into a food processor or blender for a few seconds until they become smaller chunks (don't turn the cashew into ground bits or blend too much that they form a nut butter consistency).
- Pour 1/2 of the cashew bits onto the prepared baking sheet. Take the chicken breasts out of the plastic bags and place them directly over the bed of cashew pieces. Pour the remaining half of the cashews over the chicken, distributing evenly among each piece of meat. Using your hands, pat down slightly so the cashew bits will stick to the chicken. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the chicken breasts.
* I didn't season my chicken because I used the poultry blend after the chicken was done baking. The poultry seasoning has enough flavor on its own so I omitted salt and pepper. BUT, if you do not have the seasoning blend, then season the chicken with salt during this stage.
- Bake the chicken for 15-20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet about 12 minutes into baking (depends on your oven, usually the back of the oven is hotter than the front, so do this to ensure you're chicken is cooked thoroughly through), until the chicken is opaque.
- Once done baking, leave the chicken in the oven for a few minutes to contain the juices and so the cashew bits can continue toasting a bit.
- Remove and place over vegetables (or whatever you like) and top with several dashes of the Grill Shaker's Poultry Seasoning Blend (or season more with salt and pepper). Serve and enjoy! :)
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