Taste & Create: Chicken Breasts in Lemon and Sage Sauce

My partner for this month's Taste & Create is Corina of Searching for Spice. She has some amazing recipes, but it didn't take me long to choose this one. It just took me a long time to get it made!

Taste & Create is a monthly food blog event, created by my friend Nicole of For the Love of Food. Participants are randomly paired, and must choose and create a recipe from their partner's blog. It is FUN. If you'd like to sign up, check out How it Works or email me at cowgirlmin07[at]gmail[dot]com by the 8th of every month!

Now back to the recipe. It sounds delicious, and it is! I doubled it to feed my family of 4, other than that I didn't change anything. Oh, except that I minced the garlic instead of crushing it. Corina says the fennel seeds are optional, but I disagree, put them in!

This dish is savory and tangy and wonderful. The egg yolks at the end are an interesting and colorful addition, and they really thicken up the sauce. There are some techniques in here that are different, but not too difficult. I loved this chicken! I would like to try it again with some fresh sage leaves.

Chicken Breasts in Lemon and Sage Sauce
Serves 4

4 chicken breasts
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons flour
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I minced)
Olive oil
1 teaspoon fennel (anise) seeds
3/4 cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons sage leaves
Salt
Black pepper
2 egg yolks
1 - 2 teaspoons lemon juice


1. Make a paste with the flour, garlic and lemon juice. Coat the chicken with the paste and leave for half an hour.

2. Put a little olive oil in a sauce pan. Scrape the paste off the chicken and keep for the next step. Add the chicken and the fennel seeds to the pan and fry the chicken on each side.

3. If the paste is quite thick, thin it with a little water or stock then add it to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon. Then add the rest of the stock, sage, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then lower to a very gentle simmer for about 20 minutes. Or, put in the oven at about 180C for half an hour.

4. Mix the egg yolk with a little lemon juice. Remove the chicken from the pan. Stir in the lemon juice. Keep stirring as it thickens but don’t let it boil.

5. Serve the sauce poured over the chicken with rice or potatoes and vegetables.