Paprika Chicken and Spinach with White Wine Butter Thyme Sauce

Since expanding our family to include an incredibly adorable and fun little girl, cooking has fallen pretty far down on my list of things that require my time and attention during the day. Some nights I just toss some marinated tofu on a spring mix of greens and that's that. Just too worn out or have too much going on to go all out on dinner. Last night was not one of those nights. It had been a pretty good day (despite frustrations at my local day care) and I wanted to give my husband and I a good home cooked meal. 

Paprika Chicken and Spinach with White Wine Butter Thyme Sauce

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large chicken breasts
• 1 tsp paprika
• salt & pepper
• 5 Tbsp butter*
• ¼ cup fresh thyme leaves
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 handfuls spinach (chopped if they're huge pieces)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Season the chicken breasts with the paprika, rubbing it evenly over both sides. Also season with salt and pepper — about ¼ tsp each.
2. Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and add the chicken breasts. Cook on the first side for three minutes (or until crisping and golden), flip, and turn the heat down to medium, or slightly less. Let cook for another three minutes before adding the remaining butter, thyme and garlic.
3. Cook, stirring the thyme and garlic around, for about 2 minutes before adding the wine.
4. Bring the wine to a gentle simmer and let cook for 20 minutes. It will reduce, so add more if necessary.
5. Add the spinach, and let wilt fully. Season with salt and pepper, make sure the chicken is done, and serve with a grain of your choice.

This is one of those recipes that I altered pretty thoroughly, partially because of the ingredients available to me at the local super market. Getting decent looking herbs in this town is the next best thing to impossible. I don't understand why. Even mid winter during a blizzard you could get nice herbs in New England but apparently Georgia didn't get the memo. The thyme was all brown and wilted so I figured, hey, let's use sage instead. It was still green which is a miracle in this neck of the woods. The sauce sounded like it would be tasty with sage so I went for it.  

I also went a little heavy handed with the paprika and really gave the chicken a good rub before I started. But, I really like my food to have intense flavors. A subtle smattering of seasoning would have done nothing for me. I also added part of the sage where it tells you to put in the thyme and the other part at the end with the spinach. Then, at the end, I also added a bit of heavy cream to the sauce, maybe two tablespoons, and let it cook for another minute or two. I told you I altered this one quite a bit. 

In the end, this was delicious. I put the chicken over some sticky rice and it was fabulous. The rice really soaked up that sauce and the chicken was very flavorful. I know I'll be making this again. Maybe at some point I'll be able to find some thyme to actually make it how it was intended. 

(Recipe and photo taken from The Kitchen Paper)