Sauteed Chicken with Sage Browned Butter

When I took this picture I noticed that between the rice, chicken, and apple salad, our plate was all one color.  Oh well.  It was a delicious color, at least.

I realized while we were cooking this, that my dear husband does a lot of the actual cooking.  I station him at the range and give him directions (turn the chicken in 4 minutes; Count to 30 then add the lemon juice).  Meanwhile, I cut things up, measure things, prepare a salad and any other side we might be having.  And every so often I walk over, stir something, throw in a spice.  Essentially, Geoff does the main cooking.  He browned the butter for this, so I suppose he gets all the credit for a successful French sauce.

Chicken:
4 chicken breast halves, pounded until thin
Salt and pepper, sprinkled on chicken prior to cooking
a little flour, for dredging the chicken

Browned Butter:
3 Tbsp butter
2 sage sprigs (I had to look this up, the sprig is the whole twig worth of sage.  It will usually have a few actual sage leaves all connected together.  Use this to give flavor to the butter as it melts and "browns", then remove with a slotted spoon)
1 Tbsp shallots, minced
1 tsp fresh chopped thyme
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Garnish: fresh sage leaves


Browning Butter:  Stir more or less constantly until butter browns (butter will first melt and foam.  Right when the foam is just about all gone, the butter is starting to brown.  Be careful not to burn it or it will taste bitter!)  Spoon out and discard sage.  Add shallots and thyme.  Cook for 30 seconds.  Add lemon juice.  Cook for another 30 seconds.  Serve with chicken.

Recipe from Cooking Light Jan/Feb 2011