Note from the Editor: 
This is a recipe from the cookbook we are currently reviewing, Freshman in the Kitchen. The recipe being reviewed is for Chicken Breasts with Rosemary, White Wine, and Lemon Juice made from scratch. Click the link above to read more about the book and let us know what you think!

My family loves chicken. At one time, my dad kept a running tally of how many chickens my mom had cooked in a month. My mom has cooked all sorts of chicken - roasted, fried, pan-seared, grilled, you name it. Suffice to say, I know my chicken recipes. However, I don't really know how to cook it myself. The idea of touching raw poultry has never appealed to me, so when choosing a recipe to review, the Chicken Breasts with Rosemary, White Wine, and Lemon Juice was perfect. It was time to impress my family with my new chicken cooking skills. 

Since I needed to feed the four of us, I doubled the recipe.  My mom and I purchased four bone-in chicken breasts, as directed, and proceeded to brine them. I’ve never brined chicken before, but it turned out to be easy enough. Mix salt and water together, add the chicken, and one hour later, done; brined. With my timer ticking away, I moved on to the next steps. Next, the recipe says to “trim any excess fat and skin.” Perhaps most college kids know how to do this, but I certainly didn’t. My mom showed me how to cut off anything that looked out of place, such as a piece of fat on the edge of the chicken. Next, I sprinkled the breasts with salt and pepper (since the amount is not specified, I used about a teaspoon for each of the four breasts). I heated the oil in a saucepan on medium heat, and placed all four breasts into the pan as directed. The recipe says to cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, however, each side needed much more, around 9 minutes, in order to be "nicely browned." I then added the wine,  a chardonnay, and poured in the lemon juice. I turned the heat down to medium low in order to get those nice, "simmering" bubbles, and periodically moved the chicken around the pan. Whereas the skin used to be nice and crusty, it soon turned soggy and mushy, and didn't look as appetizing as before.