The dish has a slightly (Asian) Indian flavor, which was a nice change from all of the Italian meals I've been making of late. The original recipe hales from my favorite blog, Simply Recipes. So, of course, I knew it would be a winner from one glance.
The link to the original is here: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/apricot_chicken/. A copy is included below. All credits go to Ms. Elise Bauer.
"If you don't have fresh apricots, you can use a combo of
dried pitted apricots and apricot jam. Chop up about a dozen dried
apricots and add them, with a half cup of apricot jam, to the stock in
step 4 (skipping steps 1 and 5).
Ingredients (for six people)
- 1 1/2 pounds apricots, roughly chopped, pits removed and discarded [see note above; I used about eight apricots plus 1/4 cup apricot preserves and eight dried apricots, so I think about 14 whole apricots would suffice]
- 1/4 cup [white granulated] sugar
- 2 Tbsp cider vinegar [I think you can use white vinegar if you would prefer less sweetness in the sauce]
- 2 pounds skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 to 2-inch pieces [I used about 12 chicken tenderloins]
- Salt
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter (can sub olive oil [I did])
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 [finely] chopped onion [half of a large white or yellow onion is plenty, but if you really love onions, you can go ahead and follow these directions]
- 2 cups chicken stock or broth (use gluten-free stock if you are cooking gluten-free)
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary [that's a couple of sprigs]
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- [Optional:] 2 teaspoons Tabasco or other hot sauce (you can add more if you like)
- Black pepper
Method
1 Place the
chopped apricots in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and the vinegar. Let
sit while you brown the chicken in the next step.
2 In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, place chicken pieces in the pan, without crowding the pan, and brown them on each side. As the chicken cooks, sprinkle salt over it. Once the chicken is browned, remove the pieces from the pan to a bowl and set aside.
3 Add the remaining oil to the pan and sauté the onion until it begins to brown. As the onion cooks and releases moisture, use a flat edged spatula or wooden spoon to scrape off the browned bits from the chicken (called fond) from the bottom of the pan.
4 Once the onions have browned a bit, add the chicken stock and lower the heat to medium.
5 Put about 2/3 of the apricots, along with any juice they have given up, into a blender and blend into a purée. Pour the purée into the pan with the chicken stock and onions. [This step is not completely necessary; you can just add the entire bowl of apricots in with the chicken stock and onions.]
6 Add the cinnamon, rosemary and Tabasco and taste. You may need to add some salt. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat and gently simmer for 10-20 minutes. [You can leave it uncovered for a nice, thick, saucy consistency, and lowering the heat is optional, in my opinion.]
7 When you are ready to serve, put the chicken and the remaining apricot pieces into the pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes [(covered to ensure the chicken becomes infused with all that good flavor)].
Serve hot with rice [(basmati works nicely) and pitas, if liked]."
We also ate the dish with some steamed broccoli. Dad thought the veggie was good thrown right in with the apricot chicken.
Notes: Because my mother does not like things to be too spicy, I left out the Tabasco/hot sauce. You can serve the dish with some sort of hot sauce alongside for those who enjoy it--that's what we did. I particularly enjoyed some sriracha on top, but others used Frank's RedHot and/or soy sauce, too. It all depends on your taste and preferences. Another note is in reference to slicing stone fruits. A good trick I've learned is to make a horizontal slice all the way around the middle of the fruit (the "equator," if you will, with the stem as the "North Pole.). Then, twisting the two resulting halves is easy, and the pit can be removed without much trouble. As to the chicken, it browns in about three or four minutes per side. I did slightly less than that, but I think I could have achieved better browning with the longer times I have just suggested. I think I was just anxious for the dish to be done because it already takes about 75 minutes total. I also think I didn't want to push it too far and burn the chicken. You can always cook it more if you need to, but you can't cook it less if it's overdone. However, I suppose they say that "nothing ventured, nothing gained." I guess I'm still working on my boldness in taking culinary risks. Baby steps, right? In addition, the time constraint makes this a slightly-less-than-ideal weekday meal. It is very simple to assemble, but it's just the simmering and chopping that takes up a lot of tedious minutes. Also, this dish turns out to be pretty sweet, and you need to like that to enjoy this dish to the utmost. More hot sauce can help moderate the sweetness, as can white vinegar in place of cider vinegar (well, I'm just making a shot in the dark here, but it seems a feasible option). Anyway, if you try white vinegar, let me know if that changes anything significantly. Finally, while the cinnamon and rosemary may seem like an odd couple, I can assure you that the combination smells and tastes delicious. I can honestly say I would never have thought to put them together, but I'm glad someone else did.
As I have stated before, this turned out to be a very delicious dish. I love sweet/savory as a combination (hello, Kansas City barbecue!), and I also love sriracha and Frank's, so I really loved the dish. Needless to say, we pretty much scarfed the dish down. Even so, I found many new avenues for improving this dish next time.
For starters, Mom thought we could put some curry powder into the mix to make things just a bit more interesting. I thought substituting the sweet/savory Indian spice blend known as garam masala (sort of like a sweeter version of curry powder) for the cinnamon might have much the same effect.
Next time around, I will also cook the chicken in with the apricot sauce longer. I already added the chicken five minutes earlier (at the behest of my mother), for a total in-pan time of 10 minutes, but I think the full 25 would really make for a good dish.
I also think I should have used more chicken, perhaps three pounds instead of two. It's a great low-meat meal for a flexi like myself, but my male family members have more carnivorous tendencies, so I doubt they'd complain about 50% more meat during Round 2 (whenever that is).
Despite these criticisms of my own work, I thought the apricots really shone like the stars they were. They had a nice citrine color with a ruby blush near the stems, like a pretty sunset. They sliced very easily, revealing their tender ripeness, which was just perfect for the dish. As the recipe says, you can use dried and preserved apricots for this dish in the winter, but I think half the enjoyment lies in fresh summer apricots. It's what makes the dish a magical (if seasonal) delight.
In other news, we picked up our third beautiful farm share box on the 20th. This time around, we received dinosaur kale, more salad mix, beets (did you know you can eat the greens?), carrots, scallions, summer squash (including the patty pan), sunny-tasting cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, green beans, and curly parsley. Uff dah! That's quite the bounty, no? One bite of a farm cucumber puts its grocery-store cousins to shame. And if you don't know what a patty pan is, I feel sort of sorry for you. It is a round, slightly flattened yellow squash with scalloped edges, sort of like a cartoon sun or a flower. It has a pleasantly light, creamy flavor that contrasts nicely to the stronger, more bitter taste of the more common green zucchini.
As you can tell, we are having a ball with these wonderful veggies, and it's exciting to think that we still have two more months of them. Anyway, I hope you have been learning a lot about nontraditional veggies from me and are having as much fun reading (and maybe duplicating) my (mostly adapted) recipes as I am cooking them.
Until next time, happy eating!
2 In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, place chicken pieces in the pan, without crowding the pan, and brown them on each side. As the chicken cooks, sprinkle salt over it. Once the chicken is browned, remove the pieces from the pan to a bowl and set aside.
3 Add the remaining oil to the pan and sauté the onion until it begins to brown. As the onion cooks and releases moisture, use a flat edged spatula or wooden spoon to scrape off the browned bits from the chicken (called fond) from the bottom of the pan.
4 Once the onions have browned a bit, add the chicken stock and lower the heat to medium.
5 Put about 2/3 of the apricots, along with any juice they have given up, into a blender and blend into a purée. Pour the purée into the pan with the chicken stock and onions. [This step is not completely necessary; you can just add the entire bowl of apricots in with the chicken stock and onions.]
6 Add the cinnamon, rosemary and Tabasco and taste. You may need to add some salt. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat and gently simmer for 10-20 minutes. [You can leave it uncovered for a nice, thick, saucy consistency, and lowering the heat is optional, in my opinion.]
7 When you are ready to serve, put the chicken and the remaining apricot pieces into the pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes [(covered to ensure the chicken becomes infused with all that good flavor)].
Serve hot with rice [(basmati works nicely) and pitas, if liked]."
We also ate the dish with some steamed broccoli. Dad thought the veggie was good thrown right in with the apricot chicken.
Notes: Because my mother does not like things to be too spicy, I left out the Tabasco/hot sauce. You can serve the dish with some sort of hot sauce alongside for those who enjoy it--that's what we did. I particularly enjoyed some sriracha on top, but others used Frank's RedHot and/or soy sauce, too. It all depends on your taste and preferences. Another note is in reference to slicing stone fruits. A good trick I've learned is to make a horizontal slice all the way around the middle of the fruit (the "equator," if you will, with the stem as the "North Pole.). Then, twisting the two resulting halves is easy, and the pit can be removed without much trouble. As to the chicken, it browns in about three or four minutes per side. I did slightly less than that, but I think I could have achieved better browning with the longer times I have just suggested. I think I was just anxious for the dish to be done because it already takes about 75 minutes total. I also think I didn't want to push it too far and burn the chicken. You can always cook it more if you need to, but you can't cook it less if it's overdone. However, I suppose they say that "nothing ventured, nothing gained." I guess I'm still working on my boldness in taking culinary risks. Baby steps, right? In addition, the time constraint makes this a slightly-less-than-ideal weekday meal. It is very simple to assemble, but it's just the simmering and chopping that takes up a lot of tedious minutes. Also, this dish turns out to be pretty sweet, and you need to like that to enjoy this dish to the utmost. More hot sauce can help moderate the sweetness, as can white vinegar in place of cider vinegar (well, I'm just making a shot in the dark here, but it seems a feasible option). Anyway, if you try white vinegar, let me know if that changes anything significantly. Finally, while the cinnamon and rosemary may seem like an odd couple, I can assure you that the combination smells and tastes delicious. I can honestly say I would never have thought to put them together, but I'm glad someone else did.
As I have stated before, this turned out to be a very delicious dish. I love sweet/savory as a combination (hello, Kansas City barbecue!), and I also love sriracha and Frank's, so I really loved the dish. Needless to say, we pretty much scarfed the dish down. Even so, I found many new avenues for improving this dish next time.
For starters, Mom thought we could put some curry powder into the mix to make things just a bit more interesting. I thought substituting the sweet/savory Indian spice blend known as garam masala (sort of like a sweeter version of curry powder) for the cinnamon might have much the same effect.
Next time around, I will also cook the chicken in with the apricot sauce longer. I already added the chicken five minutes earlier (at the behest of my mother), for a total in-pan time of 10 minutes, but I think the full 25 would really make for a good dish.
I also think I should have used more chicken, perhaps three pounds instead of two. It's a great low-meat meal for a flexi like myself, but my male family members have more carnivorous tendencies, so I doubt they'd complain about 50% more meat during Round 2 (whenever that is).
Despite these criticisms of my own work, I thought the apricots really shone like the stars they were. They had a nice citrine color with a ruby blush near the stems, like a pretty sunset. They sliced very easily, revealing their tender ripeness, which was just perfect for the dish. As the recipe says, you can use dried and preserved apricots for this dish in the winter, but I think half the enjoyment lies in fresh summer apricots. It's what makes the dish a magical (if seasonal) delight.
 |
| An apricot chicken collage! From top left: fresh apricots marinating in the sugar and vinegar, freshly browned chicken, apricots simmering in chicken broth and onions, the finished dish plated with two halves of a pita and garnished with sriracha sauce. Collage assembled with Pic Stitch and enhanced with Instagram filtering. |
In other news, we picked up our third beautiful farm share box on the 20th. This time around, we received dinosaur kale, more salad mix, beets (did you know you can eat the greens?), carrots, scallions, summer squash (including the patty pan), sunny-tasting cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, green beans, and curly parsley. Uff dah! That's quite the bounty, no? One bite of a farm cucumber puts its grocery-store cousins to shame. And if you don't know what a patty pan is, I feel sort of sorry for you. It is a round, slightly flattened yellow squash with scalloped edges, sort of like a cartoon sun or a flower. It has a pleasantly light, creamy flavor that contrasts nicely to the stronger, more bitter taste of the more common green zucchini.
 |
| The humble yet under-rated patty pan. Photo courtesy of newleafchurch.com and http://seriouslygood.kdweeks.com. |
Until next time, happy eating!
