Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Creamy Walnut Sauce

This recipe looked interesting when it was done. The Sauce was not creamy, but looked like hummus. Couldn't tell you why.

D cooked the spinach, and we had with basmati rice. It was really good. Reminded me of Chicken in Mushroom sauce (like cream of mushroom). I liked it a lot. Will have again.

Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Creamy Walnut Sauce

2 (1 1/2-ounce) slices day-old white bread
1 cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup walnuts, toasted
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 garlic cloves, chopped
6 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
6 cups fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Trim crusts from bread. Chop bread; combine bread and broth in a small bowl. Let stand 10 minutes. Combine bread mixture, walnuts, parsley leaves, juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, red pepper, and garlic in a food processor; process until smooth.

Sprinkle chicken with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.

Heat olive oil and butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 7 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add chicken broth mixture to pan; cook until hot and slightly thickened, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.

To serve, place 1 cup spinach on each of 6 plates. Place 1 chicken breast half on each serving; top each with about 2 1/2 tablespoons sauce. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon chopped parsley over each serving.

Yield: 6 servings

CALORIES 286 (24% from fat); FAT 7.6g (sat 1.4g,mono 1.8g,poly 3.2g); PROTEIN 42.4g; CHOLESTEROL 100mg; CALCIUM 59mg; SODIUM 586mg; FIBER 2.6g; IRON 2.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 11.5g

Cooking Light, MAY 2006