I just love cooking dinner for friends. It is one of my favorite things to do, and if I had an endless budget I would do it every night. Though most of the time, I am simply cooking for one. Kyle is a cook in a fancy-schmancy restaurant downtown, so Monday through Saturday he is cooking for others while I cook for myself.

This sound unfortunate but it actually works for us. I get to cook a healthy meal for me (or for a friend and myself) and I usually throw together something for him as well. He gets home late and his dinner time is usually around 1am, and that is when he heats up his food. He may be a chef but he has no problem eating a frozen pizza for dinner. He is a guy after all.

One reason why our separate dinner times work is because we eat completely different. He loves anything deep fried, cooked in bacon fat, or from a cow. And I like my food colorful, light, and usually vegetarian or occasionally with chicken.

Many recipes are just too big to make for myself. As much as I want to make vegetarian lasagnas or batches of soup, I just know I won’t eat it all and I hate having food waste. I instead try to create ‘dinner for one’ recipes like this lemon chicken wrapped asparagus. I know I won’t have leftovers, I know I will be full, and I know I will be satisfied.

Lemon Chicken wrapped Asparagus
yield: 1 portion

1 Chicken Breast Halve
1 tsp Salt
1 Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Mustard Powder
1/4 tsp Lemon Zest
5 – 6 pieces of Asparagus, trimmed
Olive Oil
Lemon Slices, garnish
Side Salad, optional

preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Wrap a chicken breast halve in plastic wrap and pound until 1/2 inch thick. (Pound with the back of a saute pan or a mallet). Add salt and pepper on both sides.
2. Place the breast side down and place the asparagus spears on the middle of the chicken breast. Sprinkle with mustard powder and lemon zest.
3. Tightly roll the chicken around the asparagus, using toothpicks to hold the chicken in place.
4. In a large saute pan add olive oil to the pan. When hot add the chicken and saute on all sides. Remove the toothpicks and brown on all sides, which should take 1-2 minutes. It should stay together, if it is too loose keep the toothpicks intact.
5. Place the chicken in an oven safe pan and place in preheated oven for 5-10 minutes, until finished cooking and juices run clear.
6. Top with fresh lemon slices.

For printable version click here.

The asparagus was nice and crunchy, and the chicken was very flavorful. A lot of lemon chicken recipes call for packaged ‘lemon black pepper’ seasoning. Why use that when you can use actual black pepper and fresh, bright lemons? This was a great supper, and even though I ate it alone I was content and very satisfied.