Smoked Paprika Chicken

Ingredients:

* 4 skinless chicken breasts (about 200g each)
* 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaf
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Mix together the paprika, oil, garlic, basil, salt and cayenne.
2. Massage this mix into the chicken breasts and allow to stand for about 20 minutes.
3. Heat a pan over medium heat, and saute on both sides until chicken is golden brown and cooked through-about 8 minutes each side depending on the thickness of your fillets.
4. Add a little more oil if you need to, though there should be enough from the marinade.
5. Slice on the diagonal and serve.

Results:
Pretty, pretty, pretty good. Even Chris liked the chicken. It was a little spicy, but that could be because I only bought three breasts and I didn't adjust the spices.

I decided I wanted a sauce to go with this, so after I finished cooking the chicken I deglazed the pan with some chicken broth and got up all the bits the stuck to the bottom of the pan.* Then I put just a little bit of butter in the pan to thicken it up a bit, and returned the chicken to the pan after I sliced it. Turned out well, one might say I kicked it up a notch.

* These bits are a constant problem for me. They're supposed to be "brown bits," but inevitably by the time whatever I'm cooking is done, they've turned into black or charred bits. Untasty. If I know I'm going to be wanting the bits on the bottom for something, I've been trying to remember to heat the pan a little lower than what the recipe calls for, so this chicken I cooked one side on medium and the other on mid-low/low.