Recipe: Pepper-Steamed Chicken Breasts with Roasted Onion Sauce

Pepper-Steamed Chicken Breasts with Roasted Onion Sauce
rec.food.cooking/Shel Belinkoff (1995)

1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
3 whole chicken breasts, boned, skinned and halved
3 - 4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 med onions, unpeeled
1 Tbsp Spanish Sherry wine vinegar
1 tsp unsalted butter, optional
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 quart water
2 whole cloves
1 small onion, sliced
1 lemon, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 Tbsp cardamom
parsley or some such for garnish

Rub 1/2 the crushed peppercorns into both sides of the chicken breasts. Put breasts into shallow baking dish and sprinkle with lemon juice, let marinate, covered, in fridge over night.

Rinse the whole onions and roast on center rack in a 425 deg F. oven for about 1 1/4 hours, or until easily pierced with a knife. Trim off stems, root ends and discard outer layer of peel. Put onions into a blender or food processor, add vinegar and optional butter and puree until smooth.

Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste and set aside. The onions, BTW, can be roasted a day or so ahead of the puree step.

Drain chicken well. Combine the water, sliced onion, cardamom, chopped lemon and remaining ground pepper in a large saucepan with a steamer rack.

Boil liquid for about 5 minutes over med-high heat, arrange breasts on rack taking care not to touch water, cover, and steam breasts for about 7 minutes, or until done firm-tender.

Meanwhile, transfer onion sauce to a small saucepan and heat through over medium heat.

Transfer chicken breasts to heated plates, pour a little sauce over each breast. Serve remaining sauce separately.