Chicken & Asparagus Deliciousness in ONE pan!

I like making a meal, but if it requires a lot of work, then it doesn't happen on a school night.  Sunday nights are our 'try something new' night where Dave and I try to get along and accomplish a "project" together.  Some of our biggest successes have been Steak Diane, Smothered Cube Steak, roasted chicken, sweet and sour chicken and fried rice, and most recently:  chicken and asparagus in a cream sauce.  A version of this recipe was on the cover of "Family Circle" a few months ago, but we of course tweaked it a bit.

First step:  Boil asparagus in about 1/2 inch of boiling water (in my biggest skillet), about 4 minutes.  Then run it under cold water to stop the cooking process and keep it nice and green.

Now that the skillet is empty, fry up about 4 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces.  Once the bacon is crispy, transfer the bacon to paper towels and put the bacon grease in another dish (like a cereal bowl).

Now that the skillet is empty (again!), fry 4-6 chicken breasts (that have been salt-n-peppered) in about 1 Tbsp. of bacon grease.  This takes about 5 minutes on each side.

Remove the chicken breasts (like onto a plate) and throw about 1 Tbsp. of flour into the empty (again!) skillet and whisk in a can of chicken broth to form a roux.  Add about 1 tsp. of the bacon grease to this liquid and bring to a simmer while stirring.

Add the chicken and asparagus to the cream sauce and spoon some of the cream sauce over the tops of the meat and vegetable.  Cover and cook for about 5 minutes, until everything is heated through and the roux has cooked down to desired consistency.  Throw the bacon on top before serving!

Dave felt the need to add a quartered lemon because he thought it would bring out the flavors; I'm not a big fan of lemon like this, so I'll leave it out next time.

This dish was REALLY good, and I really didn't have too many dirty dishes! It was kind of time-consuming and wasn't something you could walk away from, but it was REALLY good, so it was worth it in the end!!!

I'm looking forward to Illinois' asparagus season (if spring ever gets here)!  What's your favorite way to eat asparagus?

P.S.  Thanks to Danny Daly for being the official photographer of this endeavor.