Roasted love on the menu tonight

After a full day of work my intention was to cook a quick "30-minute meal", but that didn't quite happen.  My recipe choice for tonight is "Chicken with Bacon and Vinegar"(can't go wrong if there is bacon in the title.) from "America's Test Kitchen 30-Minute Suppers" (from the editors of Cook's Illustrated).
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/bookstore/detail.asp?PID=456
I love love love love love this cookbook.  I am learning so much while cooking my way through it.

The recipe suggests that you serve this with mashed or roasted potatoes.  I have these wonderful little fingerling potatoes from Costco.

Notice the different colors.  Eating a colorful meal is a good way to ensure that you get an array of vitamins and nutrients.  The little purple and red ones are rich in antioxidants.

I will be roasting these bad boys with sweet onion and garlic.  Yum.

After thoroughly washing the potatoes, cut each of the little cuties in half and add to a roasting dish that you have sprayed with Pam.  Add 1 chopped onion and 1 full head of garlic, each of the cloves peeled.  Season with sea salt and pepper to taste and drizzle with about 2 Tbs. of olive oil.  Stir together in the pan.  The garlic will practically melt as the potatoes roast and the onion will get soft and sweet as the sugars in the onion caramelize.  Bake at 350F, stirring every 10 minutes.  The process is best when not rushed, so you will want to get this into the oven at least 30 minutes before you start the chicken recipe.

For the chicken:

Cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crispy.  Using a heat-resistant slotted spoon transfer the crispy bacon to a plate topped with a paper towel.

The drippings can be saved in a glass jar for future cooking magic.  CAREFUL: When pouring very hot bacon grease into a glass jar you MUST do this very slowly (a few drops at a time, patient to let the glass warm up) so the glass does not break.  RESERVE 2 TBS. BACON GREASE IN THE PAN.

Pat dry with paper towels 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  This should be about 1 1/2 lbs of chicken.

Salt and pepper the breast pieces well.  Don't be afraid to season!

Put about 1/3 cup flour into a shallow bowl and dredge each chicken breast in, shaking off extra flour.  Place each breast into the pan of hot bacon grease (still on med-high heat).  Brown each side about 5-6 minutes (the recipe says about 4 minutes but I found with my stove to get that nice brown goodness it needed 1-2 extra minutes).

Place browned chicken on a plate to rest for a bit.

Turn the heat down to medium and toss in 2 shallots that are minced.

COOKING LESSON:  HOW TO MINCE SHALLOTS

Slice the ends off and peel the tough outside skin of the shallots like you would an onion.

Now cut up the shallots into uniform pieces.

Using a kitchen chopper (mine is from Pampered Chef--and in my opinion they make the best choppers) chop several pieces at a time until your shallot is the consistency you want.

Saute the shallots about 1 minute until softened.  Add 1/2 cup sherry vinegar (I only had about half this much of sherry vinegar so I substituted half balsamic and half red wine vinegar for the rest) and stir and simmer until this is syrupy, about 1 minute.  Now stir in 1/3 cup chicken broth, and 2 tsp honey.  Nestle the chicken (and any juicies that accumulated) into the pan, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through.  The recipe said this was about 5 minutes, but honestly my chicken took about 10 minutes (make sure it is not pink in the middle).

Transfer the chicken to a platter and tent with foil.

Continue to simmer and thicken the sauce for about 5 minutes.  It should be looking very dark and smelling fantastic.  Take the pan off the heat.

Stir in 2 Tbs. unsalted butter and 2 tsp. more vinegar.  Taste and adjust if it needs more salt or pepper.

Your potatoes should be about done.  The onion should be caramelized and the garlic should be almost melting.  Taste and adjust if it needs more salt or pepper.

Voila!

This was so rich and delicious!  The sauce had a you-must-have-cooked-all-day flavor and the chicken was very juicy.  My teenagers made noises eating with a thumbs up.

WW Stats:

The potatoes you will have to portion out (I served my husband 6 oz.) and I figured the points as:
4 for the potatoes themselves
1 more point for the olive oil it was roasted in.

The chicken broke down like this:
5 slices bacon (crisp cooked): 7pts
2 Tbs. bacon fat: 7 pts.
chicken breasts: 26 pts.
2 Tbs. honey: 4 pts
2 tsp. unsalted butter: 6 pts.

Divided into 4 portions (and these made large portions): 13.25 pts. each (round down to 13 points).