One Potato, Two potato...Purple Potato???

As you may have already figured out from the title of my blog & the color of my kitchen, purple is my favorite color. So, when browsing at the store, I was surprised (and excited - lol) to come across purple fingerling potatoes! I'm not sure if they taste different than the white fingerling, but they do look pretty!

I love the flavors of lemon & chicken, so I'm always trying out new ones. I made Classic Lemon Chicken with Sauteed Spinach from The Food Network. I left out the spinach and instead served with veggies I wanted to use up - a side dish of broccoli and added some button mushrooms to the chicken. The chicken (which turned out amazing!) was full of flavor, so I kept the sides simple. I made some changes to the chicken recipe which I indicated in italics.

Classic Lemon Chicken with Sauteed Spinach

2 lemons

4 chicken cutlets, pounded thinly into scallopini

Salt and pepper Flour, for dredging

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

6 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, peeled

16 caper berries omitted

10 large green olives omitted

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock or broth

2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

Sauteed Spinach, recipe follows omitted

added 4 button mushrooms, thinly sliced

Squeeze the juice from one and a half lemons and reserve. Cut the remaining half lemon into very thin slices. Remove seeds and set the lemon slices aside.

Season the chicken scallopini with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour, coating both sides, and tap the excess flour off. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add as many scallopini into the pan that will fit without touching, and cook until golden brown, approximately 3 minutes. Flip and cook second side until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Remove scallopini and drain on paper towel.

When done with the scallopini, wipe off the fat from the skillet with paper towels. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, butter, garlic, and lemon juice and slices to the skillet. Cook, scraping the bottom until garlic is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Scoop out the lemon slices and set aside. Add the caper berries and olives and cook, stirring gently for about 4 minutes. Pour in wine and bring to a boil. Cook until the wine is reduced by half. Add the chicken stock and boil until slightly syrupy. I added the mushrooms. Then in a separate pan, I blanched the broccoli florets till tender crisp, and added salt, pepper, 1 tsp of olive oil and lemon zest. Return the scallopini to the skillet and coat each piece in the sauce. Add parsley and swirl into sauce.

Divide scallopini onto separate plates. Spoon the sauce over, and add the caper berries and olives around scallopini. Add some of the spinach on the side. Finish by decorating each plate with reserved lemon slices on top of the scallopini.

Sauteed spinach: 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

5 cloves garlic, peeled

2 pounds spinach

Salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Crush garlic cloves with the side of the knife and add to the oil. Cook until golden brown, approximately 2 minutes. Add the spinach in handfuls, and season lightly with salt and pepper, and cover pan. Cook until spinach releases its liquid. Uncover pan, and cook stirring until spinach is wilted and water has evaporated. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper.

Roasted Purple Fingerling Potatoes

1 lb fingerling potatoes, washed/dried

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

3 cloves crushed garlic

1 tsp dried parsley

Preheat oven to 375 -400.

Toss potatoes with above ingredients. Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until tender.