dijon chicken

This is the easiest way to make something that tastes remarkably French, which is to say: delicious and complicated. It is not complicated at all, in fact, the instructions are revoltingly simple. As someone who (hates) mayonnaise, I try not to think about its involvement here, but it is elemental.

I made a phone call as I was sliding the baking dish into the oven. Usually I think it is good luck to call my father before cooking meat. Don't forget the garlic powder, he said. Do you know we ate that on our honeymoon, he asked me. Served over fish. We liked it so much, at the little bed and breakfast in Vermont, we asked how it was made. The waiter bashfully admitted the three simple ingredients - to the delight of my parents. We could MAKE this, they exclaimed, and did, so many times in my childhood. Enjoy:

per chicken breast:

(1) large spoonful of mayonnaise

(1) large spoonful of DIJON mustard*

a hearty sprinkling of garlic powder

Stir together and dump onto chicken. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees, depending on the size of the breast. While that's baking, throw in some asparagus, drizzled with olive oil, salt and fresh ground pepper for 20 minutes. I ate it with Trader Joe's brown rice fusilli, which is my favorite- so delicious with some of the creamy dijon sauce spooned over it.

*note: an anonymous person mistakenly substituted regular yellow mustard in this recipe. It is disgusting. I recommend Grey Poupon Country Dijon, and no other.