I dream about cooking soufflés. Coq au vin. Seven-layer tortes. I live a fictional life as a professional chef while I sleep full of commercial kitchens and walk-in pantries stocked by DeLaurenti’s. I bake loaves and loaves of bread. I pipe rosettes onto cakes. I have $100 bottles of olive oil at my fingertips. I simmer mussels in wine and shave white truffles over homemade pasta.

But then I wake up. The baby is crying. I step on a musical toy donkey on my way to the bathroom. The coffee needs to be ground, the eggs need to be scrambled. And as I sleepily stumble my way around my kitchen with it’s laminate countertops, electric burners and too little square footage, I long to go back to that dreamworld of stainless steel and white aprons.

This is why when I run into a recipe that takes basic and easy to a whole new level of delicious, attention must be paid. In my evening alternate universe, there is endless time and unlimited ingredients. But for me, non-professional chef Jenny, living in the real world where time is scarce and trips to the grocery store are often few and far between, I need a go-to recipe that I can get on the table fast. I’ll save the sous vide and napoleons for my dream life of professional chef-dom.

This recipe for insanely tasty artichoke crusted chicken breasts comes from one of my blogger crushes Sugarlaws. She is beautiful. She is fashionable. She is not afraid to post pictures of herself for all of the world to see (I am quite the opposite). And she has a huge stock of recipes that are all delicious and easy. For this dish, you don’t need complicated ingredients, a well-stocked pantry, abundant workspace or even gas burners. 15 minutes, one pan and an oven should suffice.

Start by chopping some artichoke hearts (canned or jarred), and mixing them together with a little mayo, grated cheese, salt and pepper.

Toss some chicken breasts in a frying pan with a little olive oil. Brown well on one side…

…and then the other. Remove from heat, transfer to a baking sheet, and top with a dollop the artichoke mixture.

Broil for a few minutes until the cheese has melted and the topping turns a nice golden brown.

Stick them on a platter or directly on your dinner plate, and that’s it.

Does it get any easier than that? I don’t think so. This dish is so simple and satisfying that it should be given a medal.

And talk about tasty. The chicken is moist, the topping melty, salty and rich from the artichokes. Make a few potatoes or steam some veggies, and that’s dinner.

Make this tonight for your hungry ones. I know I will.

And afterwards, when the dishes are done and we have all gone to bed, I may just dream of this life—the fabulous, fun, crazy delicious life I live everyday. In my own tiny, outdated kitchen.

-RDG

You can find the original post and recipe for Sugarlaw’s Artichoke Crusted Chicken right here.