Faux-tatoes, broken pie dish & shallots galore!

Well, they are made up of dehydrogenated potatoes, I suppose. You know, Potato Buds, the instant mashed potatoes? For shame! I know, I know...but potatoes don't keep well in my house and I have to use them up within 3 days or else. So, the night of my daughter's school dance, I decided I was going to try to be as fast as possible getting dinner done, considering it was already past 8pm when we got home and she needed to be in bed soon.

Taking a cue from Alton Brown's tips on Good Eats, I decided to take the chicken breasts that I defrosted and pound them thin. Only thing is, I don't own a mallet. So per Alton's instructions, I used an old pie tin and a heavy can of corn to thin out the chicken breasts. By the time I was done with all three, my pie tin was ready to go into the garbage. I pounded that thing into submission (boy I can only imagine what kind of hits my blog will get after posting that sentence- Hee!) and by the looks of it, that pie tin is no longer usable. Instead of making the chicken-fried steak that Alton made and that my husband craved, I pan-seared the chicken breasts in an extra virgin olive oil, made the faux-tatoes, and started a roux to make a homemade gravy. I chopped up some shallots and while I hear they are a more mild onion taste-wise, they were very harsh on my very sensitive eyes. I had mascara running down my face by the time I was done. Anyhow, I added those shallots to the roux of butter and flour and browned them up, added my chicken broth and voila, had a gravy. By the time it was done, it was about 9pm, and my daughter decided to give me a hard time (yet again) about the salad and the shallots in the gravy. *Sigh*, you can't win them all, huh?

Shallots have a nice flavor to them, but oh my word my eyes were stinging! I will never know how to stop my eyes from welting up whenever I chop up any kind of onion. My husband always says, "Take the food processor down" and I tell him that is sacrilege! I enjoy chopping veggies. Now, if I could only find a better knife...we shall see after Christmas!