Chicken and Gravy Sandwiches

We moved to this fantastic apartment when we came to Mankato. Never did we think that we would live in a place so nice, especially when we thought we would be in Chicago this year. We know that when we move back to Chicago next year, will be moving a step down in niceness, but not price (unfortunately). But one thing that this building lacks is a good washer and dryer. So every other Monday, I make my way to the laundromat just three blocks away.

You might be thinking "That's horrible. You can't do laundry in your own building?" I actually like it more than walking up and down three flights of stairs in the cold twice that I had to do last year. But another surprise of going is the laundromat has cable, which means the Food Network! So I took the opportunity to watch Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals. And I found Todd's homemade birthday dinner. Yes, it was his birthday on Friday.

Ingredients
2 to 3 lemons, juiced (enough to yield 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
Half a palmful finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 large or 3 to 4 small cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 loaf crusty French bread or 2 batardes (shorter, slightly wider baguettes)
Directions
Heat the oven to low heat.

In a bowl, add the lemon juice, sugar or honey, parsley, garlic and extra-virgin olive oil. Stir to combine. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add to the dressing, turn to coat and let marinate for 15 minutes.

Heat a large skillet, broiler, grill or grill pan. Shake off excess marinade and cook the chicken for 6 minutes on each side. Remove to a cutting board, let rest for a few minutes and slice on an angle.

While the chicken marinades and cooks, add the butter to a sauce pot over medium heat. When the butter melts, stir in the flour, cook 1 minute, then whisk in the stock. Cook until thickened to a light gravy, about 5 to 6 minutes. Season with black pepper, remove from the heat and stir in the Dijon.

While the chicken cooks, crisp the bread in the warm oven.

Cut the bread into 4 portions and split or halve. Use tongs to dip the sliced chicken in the gravy and fill the rolls. Arrange on a serving platter and serve.

I tried to make it from memory and did pretty well. I forgot the chicken stock for the gravy, so it was more like a sauce. Also, we just served it as chicken. Forget the sandwiches. We made a bit of mashed potatoes and got out some baby carrots to go with it and we had a nice meal. The chicken turned out great; the gravy will be better next time.

To go with the new title of the blog, I will also let you know about my attempt to make our apartment more homey. We took down our Christmas tree (finally) and now the wall with the big windows looks so sad, and white. So, when mom and dad come this weekend for the MSU vs UMD hockey game, mom is going to help me find some curtains to hang. I hope we find something. Also, I'm trying to get Todd to make some crappy shelves to put on this other big, blank wall. We have lots of knick-knacks, picture frames, and more books that could use some shelf space. So this is our