Chicken Under a Brick

Earlier this month, Jessie and I did another menu swap, so I have lots of great new recipes to share as we wrap up 2014!  Each post this week will be from the menu Jessie gave me - everything was delicious!

My favorite thing about this chicken was that I discovered my girls and I share a love for banana peppers!  I would never have thought to make something for my family that starred banana pepper rings, but I'm glad I did because everyone enjoyed it!  I went easy with the sauce on the chicken pieces for the kids so it wouldn't be too spicy.  I usually cook meat too long, as I did with this, so the chicken was a tad dry, but that was totally user error.




4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 t crushed red pepper flakes
1T Dijon mustard
5 T EVOO, divided
3 T finely chopped banana pepper rings
2 T hot pickled pepper juice
Handful freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley 

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. 
Combine crushed red pepper, mustard and about 2 tablespoons oil in a small dish. Slather the mixture over the skin of the chicken. Place chicken face down in a nonstick skillet. Set loose foil over chicken then a plate or smaller pan on top and weigh it down with a brick or heavy cans. Place pan over medium to medium-high heat and cook. 
After 18 minutes flip the chicken to get some color on the other side. Reduce the heat from medium to medium-low and cook for another 2 minutes, until cooked through. Remove weight, turn chicken over and sprinkle with chopped hot peppers then douse with pepper juice and top with parsley.