Whole Chicken Braised With Pears Food

CHICKEN WITH CARAMELIZED PEARS

Steps:

• Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown chicken in butter; remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, saute onion until tender. Add pears and brown sugar; cook 3 minutes longer. Stir in vinaigrette and thyme., Return chicken to skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 4-6 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. Meanwhile, cook rice according to package directions. Serve with chicken.

BALSAMIC CHICKEN & PEARS

Steps:

• Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook until a thermometer reads 165°, 8-10 minutes. Remove., Meanwhile, stir together next 5 ingredients until blended. Pour into skillet; add pears and dried cherries. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat and simmer, covered, until pears are tender, about 5 minutes. Return chicken to skillet; simmer, uncovered, until heated through, 3-5 minutes. If desired, sprinkle with additional minced rosemary.

BRAISED CHICKEN WITH APPLES AND PEARS

Steps:

• Rinse the chicken under cold water and pat dry. Season with salt & pepper.
• Peel & core the apples and pears. Slice them into sixths or eights.
• Chop some fresh marjoram for garnish.
• Preheat your oven to 350° F.
• In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil and butter. When hot but not smoking, brown the chicken pieces a few at a time being sure not to crowd the pan with too many pieces or they will steam. Depending on the size of the pan, you may have to do this in batches.
• When all sides are browned, remove the chicken from the pan and transfer it to a plate to reserve. Pour out most of the butter/oil fat from the pan, but leave about 1 tablespoon for browning the apples and pears.
• Over medium-high heat, cook the pears and apples for about 4 minutes. Transfer the pears and apples to another plate to reserve.
• Add the cider to the pan to deglaze. Bring to a boil. Using a wooden spoon, scrape any bits of browned chicken from the pan. This stuff is called fond or sucs.
• Add the mustard and using a spoon or whisk, stir the mustard into the cider.
• Return the chicken pieces along with any juices that may have leaked out back to the pan.
• Add the marjoram sprigs, cover and place the pan into the oven on the middle rack.
• I didn't have a sauté pan big enough for all the chicken pieces so for this step, I transferred everything to my Le Creuset Dutch Oven, one of my favorite pieces of cookware.
• After 10 minutes in the oven, I added the apple and pear slices to the pot and continued braising for another 30 to 40 minutes. The meat was so tender it was about to fall off the bone.
• I carefully removed the chicken and fruit to a plate with a slotted spoon, removed and threw out the marjoram sprigs and started the hardest part to this recipe - defatting. There's just no easy way to get rid of the fat that comes off the chicken. I've tried those defatting gadgets, paper towels but nothing really works so well that it removes the fat and isn't messy.
• If you have the time and don't have to serve this up as soon as it's finished, I highly recommend you transfer the liquid to a small bowl or plastic container let it cool and then place in the refrigerator over night.The next day you'll have a layer of fat on top that you can easily remove and be left with nothing but incredibly flavored braising liquid. When I made this, I didn't have the luxury of time so I defatted by hand and made the best of it.
• I transferred the liquid to a saucepan, brought it to a boil and then reduced the heat to medium, added the half and half and continued reducing until the sauce was my desired consistency.I could have made a roux (fat and flour) to thicken the sauce, but I think you get much better flavor by reduction.
• To serve, plate the chicken, top with a little sauce and sprinkle a little of the chopped marjoram on top. This is one delicious meal and even better if you let it sit for a day before serving.

BRAISED WHOLE CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F Season chicken inside and out with salt and pepper. In a large ovensafe saucepan or Dutch oven, heat oil on medium-high. Add chicken and brown, breast side down, 5-10 minutes. Turn over and brown second side. Transfer chicken to a platter. Add celery and onion and sauté 5 minutes. Add carrots and sauté another 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat.
• Place chicken, breast side down, overtop vegetables . Combine broth, water and vinegar and pour over chicken. Add potatoes to the pot, cover and braise 45 minutes. Turn chicken, breasts side up, cook another 10-15 minutes with lid off to brown.
• Remove chicken and vegetables from pan and keep warm. Skim fat from cooking liquid and discard. Carve chicken and place slices into shallow bowls, adding vegetables and broth. Garnish with fresh chives and serve.

CHICKEN WITH BRAISED CELERY & CIDER

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Heat the butter in a large casserole dish and brown the chicken slowly on all sides; this should take a good 10-15 mins. (Be patient, it will pay off later.) Take the chicken out of the dish, throw in the bacon and cook for 3-4 mins until starting to crisp, then add the onion, carrots and thyme and continue to cook for 4-5 mins until the vegetables soften. Stir the celery into the dish, then nestle the chicken amongst the veg, breast side down. Pour over the cider and stock, bring to a simmer, then roast the chicken uncovered for 1 hr.
• Turn the chicken the right way up and give it 30 mins more, by which point the legs should be coming away. Carefully lift the chicken from the dish. Check the seasoning of the vegetables and serve with the chicken.