lemony-poppy chicken with sweet pea and mint couscous

the summer of 2007 is in my list of top 5 “most fantabulous summers ever”! that summer was filled with picnics, dancing, cute dresses, dog sitting, live music and delicious food. (also the summer i met the irishman)

that was the summer elizabeth introduced me to this recipe, which is a rachael ray recipe. i remember us sitting on the fire escape of her queens apartment eating this and drinking coronas - wishing the summer would last forever.

ever since then, any time i make this dish i am reminded of those great summer days/nights. this is incredibly delicious. incredibly easy. incredibly fast. so here it is, lemony-poppy chicken with sweet pea and mint couscous.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups of chicken stock
1 10oz box of frozen peas
1 1/2 cups of couscous
3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup of flour
salt and pepper
2 lemons zested, 1 juiced
1 1/2 to 2lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets (cubed)
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of poppy seeds
10 leaves of basil
10 leaves of mint

PREPARATION:
clean and cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. in a saucepot (i used a medium one) bring too boil 1 1/2 cups of the chicken stock. once it is boiling add the peas and the couscous. add them in that order. i didn’t and then i had to keep mixing the couscous to defrost the peas. see, i am here to make mistakes so you don’t. anyway, once you add the peas and couscous take away from the fire and let it sit covered for 5 minutes.

while the chicken stock starts to boil toss the chicken in the flour. it helps to spread the flour on a plate and toss the chicken in it. make sure to shake off excess flour.

here is my set up:

and the results:

at this point i need to explain something. i sprained my foot the day before i cooked this dish. this wasn’t the first time i hurt that foot, or myself for that matter - i’ve broken, sprained, dislocated almost every limb on my body. so yes, back to my explanation… when i cooked this i was still fooling myself into thinking i was alright and could walk around. that was a mistake. folks, i was in so much pain it is not even funny. so as a result i only have a handful of pictures and some, if not all, are either dark or blurry. i apologize for this to you and the dish, it deserves better. so here we are… easy, delicious dish… with bad pictures. again, my apologies.

and so, we continue…

heat up 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil on a skillet. once the oil is hot, toss in the chicken and season with salt, pepper and lemon zest…