Gary's Dinner

Gary made a wonderful dinner tonight, from Rachael Ray's Just In Time! cookbook. Here it is ...

Lemon Poppy Chicken with Mint and Green Pea Couscous

1/4 cup EVOO
1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
Flour, for dredging (or whole wheat bread crumbs)
Salt and pepper
zest of 2 lemons
2 T poppy seeds
3 cups chicken stock
juice of 1 lemon
2 T butter
1 1/2 cups couscous (Trader Joe's Autumn Harvest couscous)
10 oz frozen petite peas
1/2 cup fresh basil (10-12 leaves)
1/4 cup fresh mint

Heat the evoo in large skillet over medium high heat. Dredge the chicken lightly in flour, add to the skillet, and season with salt and pepper. Brown for a couple of minute on one side, then turn the chicken pieces and add the lemon zest to the skillet and sprinkle in the poppy seeds. Continue to cook until the chicken is evenly golden brown in color, 6 to 7 minutes. In the last minute or two of cooking, stir in 1 1/2 cups of the chicken stock, the lemon juice, and 1 T of the butter.

While the chicken cooks, bring the remaining 1 1/2 cups chicken stock and 1 T butter to a boil in a saucepot. Add the couscous and peas, stir, cover the pot, and turn off the heat. Let stand for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork and mix in the basil and mint.

Serve the lemon poppy chicken on a bed of the couscous.