Oven Roasted Chicken with Grape and Thyme Cream Sauce

I found this recipe in one of my Spinney's magazines and thought is sounded delicious so I made it. Here is the recipe:

For the Oven Roasted Chicken
3 or 4 Chicken legs (separated or whole depending on what size portion you would like)
4 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Curry Powder
1 tsp Honey
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees celcius)

Place the chicken legs on a roasting pan, brush them with 2 TBSP of the oil and roast in the oven for about 35 minutes.

In a bowl mix 2 TBSP of the oil with the curry powder, honey, salt and pepper.

Once the chicken has cooked for the 35 minutes remove it from the oven and brush it with the oil, honey and curry mixture and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes.

For the Grape and Thyme Cream Sauce
2 Shallots (finely diced)
1-2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 Cup Chicken Stock
1 1/4 Cup Cream
2 Fresh Sprigs of Thyme (If you don't have fresh Thyme sub in 1 tsp Dried Thyme leaves)
3/4 Cup Seedless Grapes (halved)

While your chicken is roasting in the oven you can make the sauce.

Heat the oil in a sauce pan oven medium high heat. Saute the shallots in the oil until translucent.

Add the chicken stock and allow it to cook and reduce by half.

 Add the cream and the Thyme and allow it to simmer until the mixture thickens.

Add in the grapes and season the sauce with salt and pepper to your taste. Remove from the heat and reserve until the chicken is ready.


Once your chicken is ready serve it on a plate with a good amount of sauce on top. You can either serve it with some rice or you can do what I did and just make a nice mixed salad with halved seedless grapes and blueberries.

Enjoy.

Pork Chops with Strawberry Chutney

Tonight was leftovers night and I wanted to make something to enhance some pork chops I had made earlier in the week. I was a little ambitious last week and got two parcels of strawberries because my daughter loves them, but by today these darlings had not been completely eaten and they were starting to look like they needed to be used. I thought I would give a try at a chutney using them. I had not seen any recipes for chutney using strawberries so I made one up and here it is.

Strawberry Chutney

1 1/2 Pounds of Strawberries (finely diced)
Ginger Root (a 1/2 inch piece, pealed and finely sliced)
3 Medium Shallots (finely sliced)
3 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 TBSP Sherry Cooking Wine
Salt to taste
2 tsp Red Pepper Paste
1 TBSP Yellow Curry Powder
1 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Heat the oil in a pan at medium high heat and add your shallots and ginger root. Saute until the shallots become translucent.

Add in your strawberries and allow them to cook briefly.

Add in the brown sugar making sure to allow it to dissolve and incorporate it evenly into the strawberry and shallot mixture.

Add in the sherry, salt, red pepper paste and curry powder mixing in until well incorporated. Make sure to taste it at this point to make sure you like the amount of seasoning.

Add in the vinegar, lower the heat to medium low and let it simmer, making sure to stir frequently until the texture is soft and thick. Do a check on your seasoning again to ensure you like it. then remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly. When ready place on top of the pork chops.

This makes enough to fill a 13oz jar so you can save it and use it on crackers with some nice cheese for a great snack.

Enjoy. 

Easy Cilantro Infused Chicken

Here is a nice easy recipe for those days when you just want to have as little fuss as possible. It is not just easy it is also very tasty. Anyway here you go:

4 Large chicken legs (Either whole or with thighs separate from drumsticks)

2 TBSP Olive Oil

3 Large Garlic Cloves (minced)

3 TBSP Cilantro leaves (chopped)

2 tsp Mild Yellow Curry

3/4 C Water

Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 420 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put the olive oil, garlic and cilantro in an oven dish and mix together. Add the chicken and coat in the mixture. Place the chicken pieces with  the skin side facing up. Sprinkle the chicken with the curry, salt and pepper. Add the water, cover and put in the oven.

Cook Chicken for about 25-30 minutes (until well cooked through) allowing the chicken to simmer in the cilantro mixture.

Uncover and baste the chicken with the liquid in the baking dish, and cover again for another 10 minutes.

Change your oven form baking to broiler setting. Take out the oven dish and uncover, basting the chicken again and place back in the oven for an additional 5- 10 minutes to allow the skin to brown and crisp to desired point.

Serve with your favorite sides and enjoy.