Spiced Peaches and Chicken

This is definitely one of my very favorite dishes, both to make and to eat. One of my roommates at BYU gave me the recipe (Cara Powers, now Vivian, for anyone wondering) before my mission, and it's been a favorite ever since. I make it a lot of times when I take dinner to other people because it's so great. It's easy, fast, inexpensive, kid friendly, and has a totally different sort of taste that is exciting and lovable. Might as well rename it Mary Poppins. Practically prefect in every way.

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Ingredients:

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2 lb chicken

1/2 C flour

salt and pepper

3 Tbsp cooking oil

1 C orange juice

1 1/2 C diced peaches

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp vinegar

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp basil

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Directions:

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1. Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks. Combine the flour and salt and pepper in a bowl and coat the chicken pieces with the flour mixture.

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2. Warm the oil in a frying pan, and fry the chicken until nicely golden (add more oil if needed).

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3. While the chicken is cooking, combine the orange juice, peaches, brown sugar, vinegar, nutmeg, and basil in a very large frying pan and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

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4. When chicken is done, pour off the oil and add the chicken to the sauce mixture. Don't forget to scrape the bottom of the pan - there's a lot of goodness in those brown bits stuck on there.

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5. Stir it all together, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

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6. Serve with rice. Yum!

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Substitution Tips:

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You can make this gluten-free by not breading the chicken at the beginning, just salt and pepper it and fry it up. Then add some cornstarch or other thickening agent to the sauce after adding the chicken.

If you don't have orange juice, you can use the juice from a can of mandarin oranges, just measure it out and make up the difference with juice from the peach jar.

I generally use regular white vinegar, but apple cider vinegar works well too.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I remember in one of my BYU wards we had a Relief Society activity where one of the girls showed us some nicer recipes. She demonstrated stuffed chicken breasts, which I thought were a nice idea and then promptly forgot about. I recently rediscovered this little wonder, and have developed a very handy little method that makes it a cinch. This can be a really gourmet-looking and -tasting dish, but it is actually very quick. Plus, you can put pretty much anything you want in the stuffing and/or sauce, so let your creativity go wild.

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Here's a picture tutorial:

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1. Put your boneless skinless chicken breast in a ziplock bag. I usually don't like the extra-large size chicken breast -- something about walking down the aisle and noticing that the chicken breasts are larger than mine (did I just type that?) is rather disconcerting, but when they are on fire sale, I'll buy a pack and put them individually in the freezer. Then this step is easy, I just take the bag out of the freezer and defrost in the microwave. I usually use a large breast like this (a little less than a pound) for two servings. If you need more, just use more individually bagged chicken.

2. Using a handy mallet like this one (or a frying pan or even a can of vegetables), pound your chicken out flat until it fills the bag.

3. Carefully slide the chicken out of the bag, cut it in half, and reshape it with your fingers if needed. Then spread the filling in the center of each piece.

4. Roll the pieces up with the filling in the middle, secure with toothpicks, and if necessary, shape with your fingers. Rub generously with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes (chicken is done when juices run clear or it reaches an internal temp of 160).

6. When done, remove the toothpicks and serve.

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Alternate serving methods:

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A. After baking, grill the outside. I love my handy over-the-stove griddle for this. The grilling is just a nice finishing touch, as shown here.

B. Ryan suggested this idea - if the filling isn't too runny, slice it width-wise this and serve with garnish or drizzle your choice of sauce over it. This would be really fun for an appetizer or party serving.

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Some filling ideas:

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A. Lemon (keep the rind, but use just one thin round per serving and slice it lengthwise) and garlic slices with an herb like tarragon (or I love herbs de provence). Drizzle lemon juice on top, and add a few thin rounds to the pan for added lemon-y goodness.

B. A nice garlic basil pesto.

C. Cream cheese, chopped kalamata olives, and garlic (a sun-dried tomato vinaigrette drizzled on top is delicious).

D. Ham and swiss cheese with a honey-mustard glaze (extra for dipping at the table).

**Just remember that chicken breast is generally rather dry so if you don't have much juice in your filling, try topping it with some kind of sauce to add moisture, and don't be stingy with cheese in the filling.

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If you come up with other great fillings, please share!