Dead-easy Weeknight Dinner + Cast-Iron Love

If you don't own a cast-iron pan, you're missing out. Sure they're heavy, sure they're a pain to keep (not) clean, but they are, hands-down the best tool to buy if you are one of those people who has trouble getting meat right. Here's a really, really simple recipe for weeknight chicken breast that takes maybe fifteen minutes to prepare. Here goes:

1. Turn broiler on high, put rack on highest rung
2. Slice an onion
3. Turn the stove on medium high, place a spoonful of vegetable oil in the (preferably cast-iron) pan
4. Wait until the oil shimmers a bit
5. Drop in the onions, brown them for maybe three minutes
6. Add a bit of water, as much as you can carry in your hand from the sink x3
7. Wait until the water evaporates almost entirely
8. Push the onions to one side
9. Put the chicken breast in the clearing (you should salt+pepper+herbes de provence liberally prior to this)
10. Put whole thing in the broiler for 10 minutes if it's a thick breast, maybe 7 minutes if its not.

Then, this happens:

If you're feeling manly, eat out of the pan and you've only dirtied one dish. If you use a plate, two. 

Very literally no clean-up. Total time, 15 minutes. Takes less time than an oven pizza.