Pecan Encrusted Chicken with Dijon Sauce
Don't you just love making a dish or dessert for someone and they love it? The other day, I made soup for my 12 year old son...as he took his first spoonful, he made a noise of such satisfaction then looked right up at me and said "Mom....Mom! "This is SO good!" Even my husband noticed the sound he made and it made him smile as well - and that...THAT right there is why I love to cook!
One day I was thinking about just what cookbook it was that made me fall in love with cooking and two books popped into my mind (that is if you don't count the Sesame Street Cookbook I received from Santa when I was 9 but THAT is another story). I still have my first "real" cookbook. The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook which I bought for myself when I was 18 or 19. My dear "friend" is in pieces...literally! 40% of that giant book has completely fallen off of the spine. I haven't touched it in years but I know that if I did, it would be like sliding on my oldest and most favorite pair of broken in jeans! Sigh!
The cookbook that made me fall in love with both reading cookbooks cover to cover and the dream of opening a small food shop was The Silver Palate! That book didn't have a single photo, just a few sketches but the LOVE of cooking for others enjoyment and cooking and entertaining in general jumped right off of its pages and into my soul! I wasn't the only one because for its 25th anniversary, they released it again with photos and more. I never did grab that one...just happy with my original I guess!
My Pecan Encrusted Chicken with Creamy Dijon Sauce was inspired by a combination of two recipes found in the two books I mentioned above and every time I have made it since I was a teen...people just love it! It is unusual and delicious...simple yet special. From an intimate 2 person dinner to feeding a mountain house full of 20 people, this chicken always pleases! Serve it with some grilled or roasted asparagus and some roasted potatoes and you have yourself a memorable meal! Enjoy!
Pecan Encrusted Chicken with a Dijon Cream Sauce
4 good sized chicken breasts
Salt & pepper
8 TBS butter
3 TBS coarse-grained Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
10 oz finely chopped pecans
3 TBS Butter
1 TBS olive or grapeseed oil
Sauce
⅔ cup sour cream
1 TBS coarse-grained Dijon mustard
Salt & Pepper
Pound your chicken breasts a few times with a rubber mallet or rolling pin until it is even and thin, then season them with salt and pepper. Set aside. Melt 8 TBS butter in a frying pan, whisk in the mustard and scatter 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves in. Set your pecans out on a dish or paper plate and grab one piece of chicken, coat it in the mustard mixture, then immediately coat it in the pecans. Place on a baking sheet and repeat.
Preheat your oven to 225 degrees. In a large frying pan, melt 3 TBS butter, gently add in your chicken pieces (giving them enough space between one another to easily flip). Cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, flip and cook for 2 minutes more. Take chicken pieces out of the pan, and place them onto a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until done (depends on the thickness of your chicken).
Meanwhile deglaze your frying pan with the sour cream,1 TBS of mustard, salt and pepper. Heat it just enough to warm it through.
Serve chicken over-top of the sauce or drizzle sauce over-top - whichever you prefer.
Colleen's Notes: I like to pound my chicken with a rubber mallet, which I have had for years for just that purpose. I always place the chicken, one piece at a time in a baggie and bam...bam...bam! Love it!
This chicken is incredible moist and tender if cooked correctly, pan frying it for a bit then finishing it in the oven at a low temperature makes it perfect! Don't leave out the Thyme - that little bit goes a long way with flavor! Also you may want to wash your hands in-between coating each chicken breast...it can get messy!
Enjoy & Good Luck!
I was not compensated to write this post, I just thought it would be fun to share both the story and the giveaway. Lucky for me Page Street Publishing and Calphalon were both happy to offer up fun prizes!
The recipe sound yummy!! We eat a lot of chicken and could use a new recipe.
Julia childs roast chicken recipe was my first recipe I made all on my on that tasted amazing.
Colleen, pecan encrusted chicken - yes, please! Ah, the Silver Palate cookbook - such a classic! Thank you for sharing your story and for inviting me to share mine!
I am going to try this with tofu. I love everything with pecans!
This chicken sounds spectacular, and I love that it will work for two or for a crowd! Thanks so much for helming Cookbooks and Calphalon! I'm loving all the stories. =)
This sounds delicious! I'm a sucker for anything that's crunchy, and add dijon to it and I'm hooked. Thanks for organizing this, Colleen!
I am making this ASAP. It looks amazing!!
I love when my family tastes my food and tell me they love it! Best feeling in the world. Love the sound of that Dijon sauce!
I own The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook!! It's still intact, though. With you know... Finger smudges. And stains. That's a sign of a well loved book! I love this pecan encrusted chicken!
I wish I could remember the first cookbook I ever looked at, but I'm not sure. I have a feeling it was one of the Jewish Cooking books my mom has though!
I love that your cookbook is tattered too--it's the best feeling when you can bond over your love of food and they seem to identify it the same way! I can't wait to have kids someday and get them in the kitchen with me. It must be so rewarding to teach them a skill and watch them learn and be able to cook! Your kids are lucky to have such a great teacher! I'm glad they appreciate your talents 🙂 Thanks so much for organizing this one, Colleen! I think it's the most fun I've had writing a group post!
This recipe sounds really delicious. I love chicken and the pecans sound like they would be a really great and unique addition.
The chicken sounds great but I would leave off the sauce. I don't eat sauces.
Yes! There's no better felling than cooking something and having people get super excited about it. It's the best! That chicken is gorgeous... the crust looks PERFECT! Definitely worth getting excited for!
Better Homes and Gardens is a staple....and this chicken looks so so good!
This recipe looks very good! I love pecans so I will be trying this very soon. I can't remember what cookbook made me fall in love with cooking but I use to buy just about any cookbook I would see when I first got married because I didn't really know how to cook or what to cook for that matter.
I wish I could remember the name of the book because I would buy it again. It was a children's cookbook that I received when I was around 9 and it had a bunch of pictures and easy to make recipes. I went through that book so much that the cover came off and I lost several pages but it was the book that started my love of cooking.
Valencia
Isn't the Good Housekeeping Illustrated just the best?! Truly, I don't know what I would have done without it, once upon a time. Thank you so much for inviting me to take part in this, Colleen. It was such fun to reminisce and I've loved reading everyone's stories as much as I have enjoyed seeing which cookbooks they chose. I'm pinning your pecan-encrusted chicken to make sometimes soon. It looks wonderful!
The recipe sounds pretty good. I think the Dijon sauce looks delicious!
I always love new ideas for boring chicken~
I think this recipe sound great, although I'm not a pecan fan. I know the rest of my family would enjoy it!
The recipe sounds and looks amazing! Definitely want to try it!
I like the recipe though my husband is allergic to pecans..so maybe there would be something I could substitute it with. Looks wonderful though.
Thanks!
Samantha (samdaleo)
jamesmadison1974@gmail.com
My Mom had an old cookbook that was from a ladies group from the late '50s early 60's that I read after I got married years ago. It had many Hawaiian-local style recipes & stories of how they came about, I loved reading it. A few months ago I asked my Mom if I could borrow it, she said my nephew threw it away thinking it was just old junk. Sadly, there were other cook books & binders with my parents old hand written recipes that got tossed. uggh 🙁
When I was interested in cooking at about age 10, my Mom handed me Betty Crocker's bright orange cookbook. Its still my go-to cookbook.
Great recipe - I am going to try it.
The cookbook that I first loved was "My First Cook Book" that someone gave me when I was a kid in the 60's. Later, as a young adult,someone gave me the Betty Crocker Cook Book. I learned a lot from both of those!
Mary Beth Elderton
The recipe looks good. I love pecans and am not sure why I have never tried something like this.
I think the recipe sounds incredible! I so love pecans.
I think the recipe sounds great. I've never used pecans for a chicken crust before.
I think the recipe sounds delicious. I don't really have a favorite cook book. Many years ago I purchased the Betty Crocker recipe box. It has a lot of recipes for everything. I have used these over the years and many have become favorites. My ex-mother-in-law was Italian and she was also a great cook. Her recipes have been passed down through the family and some of them are my children and my favorites.
Betty Crocker cookbook handed down to me was my first cookbook.
Desserts first from a Southern Living cook book, than expanded using the same book.
My first cookbook was about Italian cooking, I was hooked from there! and I still have that book !
I love making recipes from the old betty crooker cookbook and church recipe books
sonflower277 at gmail dot com
This recipe looks super delish and one I have got to try. I am always looking for new main dish ideas.
heather hgtempaddy@hotmail.com
I would make this for my hubby! I get tired of plain old chicken!
The recipe looks really good. I think my son would like this twist on chicken!
Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything is what made me love cooking. It suddenly seemed so accessible!
think this recipe sound great, I am pecan fan so of course this looks awesome!!!!
Wow...this would be a great win!
I never had to make dinner before and now I have to at the ripe age of 48! I have no clue and keep looking for ideas I love this site and the Pecan Encrusted Chicken with a Dijon Cream Sauce seems like it's something I can do! Thank you for recipes that don't make me work all day on it!
This recipe looks so yummy!
Pecan encrusted chicken....who knew?
That chicken recipe looks so good. I bet my whole family would love it. I can't wait to try it.
The Pecan encrusted recipe sounds delicious. It's a recipe I know I would enjoy and would love to try!
They look great!
I love the recipe!
What a great recipe - Thanks!
This recipe looks amazing! I can't wait to try it. I fell in love with cooking when my passed on her very used copy of the Joy of Cooking.
my family loves anything chicken and the same old recipes are getting old, cant wait to try this!
The recipe sounds delicious. I would love to try making some today for my kids and I to eat. Thanks for the recipe.
Moniquebbon at gmail dot com
I have tried a similar dish, which was rated a plus by the family. Will see how this variation stacks up--probably very well!
I think this recipe looks delicious (but my hubby doesn't like pecans, so I don't think it would be a hit here with the rest of the family). And I still don't LOVE cooking...but I do love The Joy of Cooking cookbook because it tells me how to cook pretty much anything...especially the basics!
I think the recipe sounds amazing, I do love nut crusted chicken.
This recipe looks delicious. My fave cookbook is "Soup to Nuts". I've had it for years!
Thank you for posting. Several years ago, a friend made a dish somewhat like this but I was never able to get the recipe from her! Can't wait to try this!
My favorite cookbook has always been the Joy of Cooking
This recipe sounds super yummy! Especially since we eat alot of chicken.
I think the recipe sounds amazing, I do love nut crusted chicken
agnesye@hotmail.com
The Joy of Cooking; I still love it!
I think the recipe sounds delish and I cannot wait to try it!
When I got married years ago, my grandmother gave me a Betty Crocker cookbook and I would sit for hours studying all the recipes and looking at the pictures. That was the cookbook that started it all for me.
Your recipe looks amazing! I want to make it! My first cookbook was The Joy of Cooking!
I love the recipe. I love nuts and I sometimes like to replace bread or flour with them.
Jo-Ann Brightman
I think my family would this recipe!
The cookbook that made me fall in love with baking was the original Mrs. Fields cookie cookbook.
I love the recepie,i will definetly try tomorrow night,always love try new recepies.We love chicken
The recipe is fantastic. The Cookbook that made me what to start cooking was a recipe book made by our church. The cookbook included so many great Southern recipes that had been handed down for generations. Everything we made out of that cookbook is fantastic and always gets raves from the family.
I love pecan encrusted tilapia. This looks fantastic cant wait to try it!
I think this sounds fantastic. I want to try it out.
I think the recipe sounds unique and delicious.
Growing up, I loved my Mom's Betty Crocker cookbook.
My favorite cookbook is "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman. It shows the keys to making all the classics.
LUV new recipes!!!!!
That recipe looks absolutely delicious! I <3 dijon mustard - and this looks like it uses it very well.
The recipe looks divine. I am always looking for ways to make a new chicken dish and this fits the bill.
That chicken looks so yummy! I would love to cook that for my family. The cookbook that made me fall in love with cooking is an old rachel ray cookbook I made a grilled chicken and onion salad with riddichio and a homemade salad dressing which I had never done before and it was so delicious and fresh tasting. been cooking from cookbooks ever since
crazyweirdo33@yahoo.com
I like the book baking by hand. I always like to learn new recipes and it is great to bake from scratch for my family. (Kenia)
Sarah Kramer's How It All Vegan started my love of cooking- it's still a favorite!
I grew up helping my mom cook recipes from the New York Times cookbook, which started my love of the culinary arts.
Oh my gosh, the recipe looks great!
The chicken recipe looks delicious. I will definitely be making this.
I love that when cooking you can be creative - you control what you put into a dish. You can substitute fresh, local, in-season ingredients.
THIS RECIPE LOOKS SO YUMMY AND i KNOW MY FAMILY WOULD LOVE IT
I don't really care for dijon.
I've visited many countries and I always enjoy making and sharing meals with friends. I enjoy using various types of mustard.
Horn of the Moon Cookbook by Ginny Callan or Moosewood Cookbook
Great recipe, i need more cooking ideas.
I fell in love with cooking reading my grandma's hometown cookbook's. the kind that ladies put in their favorite recipes for fundraisers. I started reading cookbook's as a child. Iwaould borrow my moms friends books to read too.
I love reading through cookbooks!
Your Pecan Chicken dish looks good enough to eat!! Can't wait to try it out...thanks for posting & for the opportunity to win that lovely Roaster Set...I love Cookbooks & Calphalon!
The recipe sounds awesome, I am always looking for new ways to prepare chicken! I'm not a dijon mustard fan so I think I might try the sauce with yellow mustard.
The Good Housekeeping Cook Book, I remember when I was a young girl.
This recipe sounds truly delicious and I'm saving it! Fave cookbooks are "Dining by Rail" and "From the Dining Car" by James Porterfield- great recipes that really work, and great stories of the historic railroad dining cars!
What a great way to combine chicken and pecans...yum!
Good Housekeeping cookbook.
That recipe sounds and looks delicious. I will def be trying it.
wqnt to make it
My grandma's recipes made me fall in love with cooking she is 93 and a amazing woman.
Williams-Sonoma, Vegetable
We eat a lot of chicken in our house, it's all my 9 yr old will eat & her favorite is roasted. These recipes & the roaster pan will help us put some variety into our meals, Thanks!
The cookbook that really helped me fall in love with cooking was an antique cookbook that belonged to my great grandma. I remember making candied orange peels, feeling a connection to the past.
Thanks!
That chicken looks amazing! I have to try this!
I just love having options for chicken. I'm allergic to pecans, so would probably switch it out for almonds, etc. Love it!
It was the Peanuts cookbook that I got when I was 10 and that started it all.
love my no-stick Calphalon set, received it as a gift. will have to exchange corn flakes for nuts....allergic to all of them. Looks great though, too bad i can't have it.
The recipe looks delicious!
This recipe sounds great, I must try!
I fell in love with cooking when I was given the Betty Crocker Cookbook when I was 15.
My Mother was the one who inspired the love of cooking in me. When I first started, I could literally burn water. After many an exploding roast, I've finally got the knack for it.
My Mom was my inspiration and this past Mother's Day my sister gave me our Mom's Better Homes and Gardens cookbook from when she and my Dad married in the 1950's!
My mom had an old cookbook called The Fanny Farmer Cookbook. Funny name but I loved reading the recipes and dreaming of making them.
Grilled chicken salad, "grilling" the chicken was the first cooking I ever did and I was hooked!
The recipe sounds like it would be tasty!
Soup, Salad & Pasta by Derek and Ursel Norman
I use a betty crocker cookbook that I LOVE.
The cookbook that made me fall in love with cooking was the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook from roughly 1963
The recipe looks delicious! I am going to have to try it soon!
I love the recipe, it looks pretty easy to make and sounds amazing.
I think the recipe looks and sounds too delicious. We are big fans of chilcken and I am always looking for a different and unique way of fixing it. And this would be perfect for us. I will definitely be trying this recipe at home.
jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com
This recipe sounds yummy! I Love pecans in just about anything. Thank you for the generous giveaway.
The recipe sounds delicious..and easy to prepare. I am looking forward to trying it.
This recipe sounds delicious! I bet our family would love it!
For me it was Betty Crocker cookbook when i was a teenager I started cooking at 12. Plus my mom broke her knee cap at the time so I have too learn quickly
I fell in love with cooking from Julia Child 's TV shows and The Joy of Cooking cookbook.
alyce poalillo
This recipe sounds wonderful!! We eat a lot of chicken so I need more recipes for it! All I need are the pecans!!
This recipe looks and sounds amazing! I SO want to make it! I don't remember the cookbook that made me fall in love with cooking, I think what made me fall in love with cooking was an oatmeal cookie recipe passed down from a family friend. I loved those cookies so much as a kid, and my mom hated making them because they were too time consuming. I learned to cook and bake all because of that recipe
addictedtorodeo at gmail dot com
When I was in School we all had to purchase and cook from a specific cookbook. I think that is where my love of cooking began!
the recipe sounds YUMMY!
The recipe seems really good. Some of my favorite things are in the ingredients. I think my family will love it.
Tara Woods
wow
the recipe sounds great. I am always looking for a new chicken recipe to try.
I think the pecan encrusted chicken with dijon is to die for. Something that you would find in a 5 star restaurant.
I have a collection of over 350 cookbooks and would be hard pressed to name a favorite. For nostalgic value I would say Jeff Smith's The Frugal Gourmet because it was the first cookbook I bought for myself and made many of its dishes. The Pecan Encrusted Chicken with a Dijon Cream Sauce sounds delicious and makes for an impressive presentation.
I think this recipe looks mouth-wateringly delicious! Would love to try it!
When I was a child, my love for cooking started when I read and used a Betty Crocker Boy's and Girl's cookbook. There were lots of cute recipes.
Nancy
allibrary (at) aol (dot) com
I will eat just about anything encrusted with pecans. My fave was pecan encrusted stuffed french toast. Heaven!