Chicken in almond sauce

This particular recipe book was one of the first recipe books David and I bought together, and we've had many delicious successes from it, including chicken and fennel au gratin. Chicken in almond sauce was a recipe we'd first made several years ago (before we left Vancouver) and was one of our staple dishes for awhile. For whatever reason, perhaps the glut of new recipe books that we acquired, the recipe fell by the wayside, and it's been well over a year since we've made it. Upon realizing that we had a substantial stash of almonds in the house, I thought it might be a good opportunity to revisit this old favourite.

Recipe

adapted from The Silver SpoonServes 23 tbsp butter2 boneless chicken breasts1 tbsp + 1 tsp lemon juice3 tbsp almonds, chopped3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped½ onion, chopped2 tbsp white winesalt and pepperMelt half the butter in a skillet, add chicken and cook over low heat, turning occasionally, until lightly browned on both sides. Add lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked. Remove the chicken from the pan and add half the remaining butter, the almonds, garlic and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the almonds have browned. Add the remaining butter, pour in the wine and cook until it has nearly all evaporated. Transfer chicken to a warm serving dish. Incorporate any extra juices into the sauce and spoon over the chicken.

Musings

A relatively straightforward recipe to make and yields a lovely, well-balanced dish--a little bit sour from the lemon and sweet from the wine. We made a leek risotto as a side, for a change of pace, which complemented the chicken nicely. D actually left the skin on the chicken and was able to get it to crisp up fairly well, but thought that baking it instead might allow us to get more reliably crispy skin.