Braised Chicken With Apples And Pears Recipes

BRAISED CHICKEN THIGHS AND APPLES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degree F. Sprinkle the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large, deep ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Place the chicken in the skillet skin-side down and cook, flipping once, until golden on both sides. Transfer to a plate.
• Reduce the heat to medium, add the thyme and leeks to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Pour in the wine and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom. Cook until the skillet is nearly dry. Stir in the broth, apple cider and a pinch each of salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
• Use a fork to mash the butter and flour together in a small bowl until smooth. Whisk the butter-flour mixture into the skillet until dissolved. Stir in the apples and remove from the heat. Nestle the chicken skin-side up in the skillet along with any collected juices from the plate. Bake until the chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes.

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 CHICKEN WITH APPLES AND SAGE

Steps:

• Pat chicken dry and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chicken well, starting with skin sides down and turning over once, 10 to 12 minutes total. Transfer chicken to a plate and pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet.
• Add butter, brown sugar, apples, and shallots to fat in skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are browned, about 5 minutes.
• Add broth, vinegar, and sage and deglaze skillet by boiling, stirring and scraping up any brown bits, 1 minute. Return chicken, skin sides up, to skillet along with any juices accumulated on plate. Reduce heat and simmer, loosely covered with foil, until chicken is cooked through and sauce is slightly reduced, 20 to 25 minutes.

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.

BRAISED CHICKEN AND APPLES

Steps:

• Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat; season chicken breast with salt and pepper; brown chicken on both sides, about 3 minutes per side; remove chicken to plate and keep warm.
• Add apples and shallots to the skillet; cook until apples begin to soften, about 2 minutes; add thyme, salt and a generous grinding of pepper, cook 1 minute; Pour in chicken broth and cider and cook over high heat until the liquid has reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
• Return chicken breast to the skillet, nestling them in among the apples; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until chicken is no longer pink in the middle, about 8 minutes.