Chicken Breasts with Apples

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon (15g) butter
2 shallots
2 crisp, red-skinned dessert apples, about 6oz (170g) each
1?2 tablespoon light
brown sugar
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 6oz (170g) each
2?3 cup (150ml) dry cider
1–2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons whipping cream
Salt and black pepper

Directions:

1. Put the oil and butter into a frying pan or ?ameproof casserole and heat gently over a low heat.
2. Peel and ?nely chop the shallots. Add them to the oil and butter in the pan or casserole, increase the heat to moderate, and fry, stirring occasionally, for 3–4 minutes, or until they are soft.
3. While the shallots are cooking, rinse, dry, quarter, core, and slice the dessert apples, then add them to the shallots and sprinkle them with the brown sugar. Raise the heat to fairly high and fry until the mixture starts to turn a golden caramel color.
4. Lift the shallots and apple slices from the frying pan or casserole with a slotted spoon and set aside.
5. Add a little more oil to the pan, if necessary. Add the chicken breasts and fry them over a fairly high heat for about 6 minutes, turning once, until golden.
6. Pour the cider over the chicken. Bring it to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for about 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally and turning the chicken once more, until it is cooked. The chicken is ready if the juices run clear when it is pierced with the tip of a knife.
7. When the chicken is ready, stir in the Worcestershire sauce and whipping cream, and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Return the shallots and apple slices to the pan and warm them through for another 1–2 minutes, but do not allow the sauce to boil.

Serving Suggestion: Serve the chicken with microwaved jacket potatoes (see below), or with rice or buttered noodles and a green salad or vegetables.

Variation: The sauce can be made with a dry white wine or richly ?avored chicken stock instead of cider, if you prefer, but you must use dessert apples as cooking apples would lose their shape.

Nutrients per serving: calories 495, carbohydrate 28g (including sugar 28g), protein 40g, fat 23g (saturated fat 11g),
good source of vitamins B1, C, and E.

Cook's tip: Microwaved jacket potatoes can make a speedy accompaniment to many main course dishes. Prick the skins of two evenly sized potatoes. Place on a piece of kitchen paper in
the microwave and cook on high for 6–8 minutes, turning them over halfway through. Wrap in foil and leave to stand for 3–4 minutes.

Apple Cider Chicken and Dumplings

For the Chicken and Broth

* 5-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or 8 chicken thighs, skin removed)
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 medium red onion, chopped
* 3 ribs celery, chopped
* 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
* salt to taste
* pepper to taste
* 3 & 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 3 cups chicken broth
* 1 cup apple cider (or apple juice for substitute)

For the Dumplings

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon cold butter
* 1 egg, lightly beaten
* 2/3 cup milk

Assembly

In a Dutch oven (or large, deep, non-stick skillet), brown chicken in olive oil and butter; remove and set aside. In the same pan, combine the onion, celery, parsley, salt and pepper; cook and stir until vegetables are tender. Sprinkle with flour and mix well. Add broth and cider. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add chicken to Dutch oven (or if you’ve been cooking in a deep skillet, add the chicken to an over-sized, oblong, greased baking dish and cover thoroughly with the cooked, broth mixture), cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes.

Increase heat to 425 degrees F. For dumplings, combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Combine the egg and milk; stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Remove Dutch oven (or baking dish) from oven; drop batter into approximately 12 mounds onto hot broth (mounds should be about the size of your cupped palm). Let the mounds rest where dropped, you do not have to push them down into the broth. Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes. Cover and bake approximately 10 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted into a dumpling comes out clean.

Steak au Poivre

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons black peppercorns, crushed
2 teaspoons white peppercorns, crushed
4 eight (8) ounce strip steaks
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2½ tablespoons butte
½ cup minced shallots
1 tablespoon flour
¼ cup cognac or brandy
1 cup beef stock or canned broth
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley for garnish

Directions:

Press peppercorns into both sides of the fillets; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Season with salt.

Using a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil until hot. Add steaks and cook on each side for 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Discard the fat wiping the skillet clean. Add 1 tablespoon butter and shallots to skillet and cook for 2 minutes over medium-high heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the cognac and reduce, stirring for 1 minute. Add stock, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Swirl in remaining butter and parsley.

To serve; place spoonful of sauce on plate and pour sauce over the steaks.
Garnish with chopped parsley.
Serves 4

French Potato Salad with Bacon

Ingredients:

1 pound new potatoes
1/4 pound bacon
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 TBs olive oil
1/2 cup chopped parsley
salt & pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Clean and quarter the potatoes. Drop them into a large pot of cold water. Bring water to a boil and cook until tender but still firm (8-10 minutes after water starts boiling)
2. Chop the bacon and sauté in a skillet until crisp. Remove bacon from the skillet and reserve.
3. Sauté the shallots in the remaining fat in the skillet. When tender remove from skillet and reserve.
4. Drain potatoes and put them in mixing bowl.
5. Pour olive oil, vinegar, and shallots over potatoes while their still warm. Season with salt & pepper. Toss in the onion and chopped parsley. Cover and refrigerate.
6. To serve bring salad back to room temperature and toss in bacon.
4 Portions

The flavors definitely get better with refrigeration, but the salad is good warm or cold. I made this as a side for sauted chicken so I ate it at room temperature. To stretch the salad you could warm the potatoes and serve them over wilted spinach or spring salad greens.

Incredible French Bread Pizza

Ingredients: Meat Sauce

2 lbs. hamburger ( 15% )
1 onion ( small dice )
1/2 green pepper ( small dice )
8 cloves fresh garlic ( crushed or minced )
1 tbsp. salt
1 1/2 teas. cracked pepper
1 tbsp. dry parsley
1 tbsp. dry oregano
1/2 teas. dry marjoram
1 teas. dry basil
1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes plus 1 can water
1 6oz. can tomato paste
2 1/2 teas. sugar

Method: Meat Sauce

Add the hamburger, onion, green pepper, salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, marjoram, basil and garlic to a large deep skillet and cook on medium high heat. Stir all ingredients to combine well. Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes to brown the meat and sweat the vegetables.

After your meat has browned, stir in the tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, water and sugar and continue to cook on medium high heat, uncovered. After a few minutes you will have made a nice meat marinara sauce that would go great over pasta but we want the sauce to get thick, about as thick as a sloppy joe mix. Continue to cook your sauce on medium high heat, uncovered, until most of the liquid has reduced down. Basically when you can see most of the meat. It will take about 45 more minutes to get to the consistency you’re looking for and you might have to turn your heat down a little if the sauce starts to splatter, stir more often the closer you get to the correct thickness. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly. It’s now ready for your pizza.



Ingredients : French Bread Pizza

meat sauce
1 large loaf of french bread
1/2 small onion ( 1in. thin sliced )
1/2 green pepper ( 1in. thin sliced )
1/2 orange pepper ( 1in. thin sliced )
1/4 cup sliced black olives
20-25 slices of pepperoni ( about 2oz. cut in half )
1lb. mozzarella cheese ( shredded )

Method : French Bread Pizza

Slice your french bread in half lengthwise to give you two open face pieces and place on a foil lined baking sheet for easy clean up. Spread half of the sauce onto each slice of french bread. It will be a lot of sauce so take your time to spread it evenly. Add half of the cheese to each slice lightly pushing it down into the sauce to flatten out the top. Now for the fun part. Decorate your pizzas starting with the green and orange peppers, followed by the pepperoni, then the onions and olives. Try to arrange your toppings so that you can see everything, it really does make for a great presentation. Bake them in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 40 to 45 minutes, until the pepperoni starts to get crispy. Remove from the oven and let rest for about 5 to 8 minutes. Cut and serve. Makes about 8 to 10 pieces 3 inches long. Add a nice garden salad and you’ve got one delicious meal! The flavor of the sauce along with the consistency is what makes this french bread pizza stand out from the rest. You can also substitute some of the hamburger for Italian sausage for an interesting twist and of course you can change, add or delete any of the toppings to please your taste buds. Everyone I know loves this pizza, I’m sure your friends and family will too….. Wanna piece?