Recipe: Very Easy Steeped Chicken Breasts

Very Easy Steeped Chicken Breasts
rec.food.recipes/Jessica Litman (1994)

Put chicken breasts (up to 4) in a large frying pan with cover or a 4 to 5 quart pan large enough to hold the breasts in a single layer. Add enough water to cover the chicken by 2 inches. Remove the chicken from the pan. Add 2 thin lemon slices, 2 sprigs fresh rosemary and two cloves garlic that you have smashed with the side of a knife blade and either peeled or not, and bring the water to a rolling boil over high heat. Put the chicken into the boiling water, cover tightly, and immediately turn off the heat. Do not uncover pan for 30 minutes; at the end of that time the chicken will be cooked through.

The rosemary, and garlic can be replaced with other herbs, and up to half of the water can be replaced with other liquids: juice works pretty well here (if it's a tart juice, you can omit the lemon). You can cook the chicken skin on or off; on the bone or boneless. You can eat it as is, or make a chicken sandwich or chicken salad from it.

Before you throw out the cooking liquid, taste it: it may be drinkable, or even delicious. If it is then, by all means, strain it (or pour it through a coffee filter if you haven't got a strainer) and keep it in the refrigerator; you can heat it up as soup.