Pecan-cracker crusted chicken with sour cream mustard sauce

Sun Valley Pecan-Crusted Chicken

Adapted from “Vintage Restaurant” by Jeff Keys, a compendium of recipes from the Sun Valley restaurant. I’m not tempted to ski, and the restaurant is probably completely unaffordable, but $28 gives you a free pass to the recipes. This entrée has apparently been on the menu for a few decades and is a crowd favorite.

Ingredients

3/4 cups coarsely ground pecans

3/4 cups ground saltine crackers

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

7 tablespoons butter, divided

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided

1 cup sour cream

Method

Mix pecans and crackers; set aside on a plate. Melt 4 tablespoons butter and mix with 1 tablespoon of mustard.

Pound chicken breasts between two  sheets of waxed paper until 3/8-inch thick.  Spread butter-mustard mixture on one side of each chicken breast.  Press chicken into pecan-cracker mixture, flip over and apply more mixture, pressing in to make sure crumbs adhere. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts.

Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet. Cook chicken until deep golden brown on each side. Transfer to baking sheet and bake in preheated 450 degree oven for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix sour cream and remaining tablespoon of mustard. in skillet, combine any remaining crumb bits, butter-mustard remainders and sour cream mixture and cook until heated through. Serve chicken with creamy mustard sauce on one end and a tomato chutney on the other. (The recipe has a separate entry for a tomato black currant chutney, but I used a tomato golden raisin chutney I put up last fall.)

Rating: I can see why it’s popular. The crunchy pecan bits are nice, and who doesn’t like a creamy mustard sauce? Pretty fast fix as well, so it has weeknight potential, especially if you make the crumb mixture ahead as I did. Next time I might try adding a touch of white wine to the sour cream mustard mixture to deglaze the pan.