March 1: Chicken in a Horseradish Pan Sauce over Orange and Herb Couscous

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
   Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 1/4 cups chicken stock or broth
1 1/2 cups plain couscous
   Zest of 1 navel orange
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup half-and-half

Preheat a large nonstick skillet with 2 tablespoons of the EVOO over medium-high heat. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the hot skillet and cook for 5 to 6 minutes per side.

While the chicken is cooking, in a sauce pot combine 1 1/2 cups of the chicken stock and the remaining EVOO, about 1 tablespoon. Cover the pot and raise the heat; bring the stock to a boil.

Remove the pot from the heat, add the couscous, orange zest, and parsley, then stir. Cover and let the couscous stand for 5 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the skillet to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Return the skillet to the heat and add the onions, horseradish, and thyme.

Cook, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes. Add the mustard, about 3/4 cup of the remaining chicken stock, and the half-and-half.

Bring up to a simmer, and simmer until the liquids have reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet to heat, about 1 minute.

Fluff the cooked couscous with a fork. Divide the couscous among 4 dinner plates, then top each portion with a chicken breast and some of the horseradish pan sauce.

4 SERVINGS

This was definitely an easy recipe to make and didn't take a lot of time. I think I did something wrong, though, because it didn't taste right. It was very bitter. I think maybe I didn't cook the onions long enough. I accidentally pureed them in the food processor instead of chopping them, so I always think that should affect the cooking time. I'm sure I just didn't cook them long enough. We really didn't like this recipe very much. And I'm not sure how well horseradish goes with orange and herb flavors. Normally I really like horseradish, so if you do, try this but make sure you follow the recipe really well.

Here are some things I did differently. I have been cutting the chicken breasts in half for every chicken breast recipe so that we won't have to eat so much meat, it will not take as long to cook, and we can save money. Win win win. I pretty much always change the recipe to call for 1 teaspoon dried thyme when it calls for 1 tablespoon fresh thyme. I ran out of couscous because of Sunday's recipe, but I still had a lot of toasted almond couscous left over. So I made 1 serving of the orange and herb couscous for me, and I gave my husband and the girls the leftover almond couscous. It was fine for them. That's all I did. I'm pretty disappointed because I was really looking forward to this recipe.