Blackened Chicken
Chicken breasts blackened with Cajun spices and topped with a spicy sauce of shallots and white wine.

Recipe by Paul Mayville

I find it fascinating how you can blacken food with this mix of herbs and spices and yet nothing tastes burned. The spice blend below can be used for blackening any kind of food; fish, shrimp, beef, pork, and chicken of course.

By the way, if you don't have a hood over your stove with a good fan that exhausts to the outside you better open all the windows or, better yet, do this outdoors.

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• Cajun spice blend (recipe follows)
• Shallot wine reduction (recipe follows)

Directions

Flatten each chicken breast with a mallet or bottom of sauce pan until an even thickness of about 1/2 inch is reached. Brush chicken breasts on each side with butter and coat with spice blend, covering completely.

Place a heavy cast iron or other pan over high heat until very hot. Cook chicken for 4 minutes on each side. Spoon sauce over chicken when serving.

Cajun Spice Blend

• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon cayenne
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

Combine all ingredients in a shallow bowl and mix well. Reserve 1/2 teaspoon for sauce.

Shallot wine reduction

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 large shallots, coarsly chopped
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon reserved spice blend
• 1 teaspoon fresh Italian parsley, chopped fine

Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add shallots and saute for 4 minutes. Deglaze with wine and add chicken stock, tomato paste, and reserved spice rub. Bring to a simmer and reduce until sauce will coat a spoon. Strain and add parsley.

Serves 4