Instructions: Boneless and skinless chicken breasts have been the biggest boon to kitchen convenience since ice cubes. Slap some prosciutto and sage on them, and you have chicken saltimbocca. Brush them with soy sauce, ginger and sesame oil, and they become chicken teriyaki. Slather them with yogurt and cumin and its chicken tandoori.

Almost anything you have around the kitchen, from artichoke hearts to olives to roasted peppers, can dress up this otherwise prosaic but versatile cut of poultry.

Chicken breasts cook even more quickly when they are pounded to half their original thickness. Put them between two sheets of aluminum foil or plastic wrap and pound with a meat pounder, a meat cleaver, or even a cast-iron skillet.

Another convenience provided by many supermarkets is boneless chicken breasts cut into strips, often labeled chicken tenders. They can be used for dishes such as chicken fajitas. They also speed up cutting for stir-frys and Chicken Curry with Apples and Sweet Potatoes below.

While eliminating skin and bones enables chicken breasts to cook faster, and keeps the fat lower, bones and skin help keep chicken moist during cooking. When you have neither, its important not to overcook the chicken or youll wind up with something like cardboard. How do you know when the meat is done? Cut into it with the tip of a sharp paring knife to see that no pink remains.

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