I realized I don’t really know how to fry a chicken breast properly. I can poach one confidently — the timing, texture, and consistency make sense to me now — but pan-searing still feels uncertain. Tomorrow night, Reka and I plan to cook four chicken breasts with pasta, cream, cheese, and the last of the garden tomatoes. I want to be able to show her a reliable, repeatable way to do it.

The best short tutorial I’ve found is by Adam Ragusea, whose video How to cook chicken breast perfectly every time focuses on fundamentals: even thickness, dry surface, good heat control, and patience. His main points are straightforward:

1. Pound to uniform thickness.
2. Pat dry and season well.
3. Use a hot pan with a thin layer of oil.
4. Don’t move the chicken during the first sear.
5. Flip once, finish at moderate heat, and rest before slicing.

That gives a simple, dependable method for juicy, browned chicken without guesswork.

The open question was the sauce. We wanted to use cream and cheese, but also the ripe tomatoes from the Kozek garden. I didn’t want to waste those tomatoes by overcooking them. Their flavor is delicate and easily lost in a simmered cream sauce.

The solution we settled on was a two-stage approach:
• Half the tomatoes go into the pan early — just long enough to deglaze the fond and add brightness to the sauce.
• Half stay fresh — added off the heat at the end for color and freshness.

The sequence looks like this:

1. Pan-sear chicken using Ragusea’s method.
2. Set aside to rest.
3. In the same pan, sauté garlic and shallot.
4. Add half the tomatoes for a short cook, deglaze with broth or pasta water.
5. Add cream and Parmesan, simmer gently.
6. Toss in cooked pasta, adjust consistency.
7. Fold in remaining fresh tomatoes and herbs off the heat.
8. Slice chicken and serve on top.

This keeps the technique clean and repeatable, uses the best of the tomatoes without losing their freshness, and fits naturally into a one-pan workflow.