Because I couldn’t possibly NOT mess with a recipe. Like I clearly do not know how to do that.
But I only made it easier, and added some polenta, other than that, all the ingredients and flavors are 100% the same! Growing up, this was my favorite dish that my mom made. Granted my mom didn’t make a whole lot of dinners, desserts were more her thing, dinner was my dad’s. Anyway, Chicken Florentine was my mom’s specialty dish. She only made it every so often, but when she did, it was the best. Everyone loved it. Well, actually now that I think of it, my brothers never ate it, you know, the whole spinach thing, didn’t work for them. So I guess that really just leaves mom, dad and me. Ok, so the three of us loved it. That works too.
The original recipe made you do all this extra work, like baking the chicken in the oven first, then making the cream sauce and then layering the chicken, spinach and sauce. Basically, it was three pans and too much work for such a simple dish.
So, what I did was sear the chicken in an oven safe skillet, make the sauce in the very same skillet and then add the chicken right back into the sauce. Then I stirred in the spinach and called it a day. This way only uses one pan and takes about twenty minutes. Then just bake it in the oven for another twenty or so minutes and done! Same awesome flavors, creamy-ness and taste, just um…simpler! Which I kind of love.
I don’t really remember my mom serving the Chicken Florentine over anything, but to me, there needs to be something there to soak up all the delicious cream sauce. Normally I just go for pasta, but then it’s kind of like fettuccine (but better), but then when I was out hiking (which always gets me thinking), the idea popped into my head to serve the Chicken Florentine over some creamy Italian polenta. I feel like polenta is good with just about anything, so I went with it. AND I added some roasted garlic because of all the health benefits (right)…Duh.
And then that’s kind of it. Pretty simple, but so perfect for these cold winter days and even into spring when you get those rainy, cold days. Which if you ask me, well, I’d rather have the snow than rain.
My lucky younger brother is spending the next two weeks in Monmouth, CA for a snowboard competitions. He says it sunny and 50 degrees there. Can you say, livin’ the life? Ya, I think so. Totally jealous.
Ok, but let’s be serious. That’s a dreamy plate of food right there.
