Seared Chicken with an Onion & Peach Glaze

So the other night my friend Norah and I went to visit my father and his girlfriend Kim up in Queensbury NY. I wanted to try something a little different, so I came up with this Onion and Peach Seared Chicken Glaze. I hope you guys like it, it was a huge hit!

Ingredients:

• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 stick of butter
• 4 very ripe peaches
• 1 small yellow onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• splash of dry white wine
• dash of rosemary
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of sugar

• jasmine Rice, 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water.

First take half the stick of butter, dice the onion and garlic, and caramelize. Cut your peaches in half, and core out the center. We’re not trying to gnaw on those killer pits. Place the peaches cut side down, and cook on low for about 30 minutes. Remember to cover them with a lid so the moisture doesn’t escape. If it looks like they’re drying out, add a little water.

While that’s going, you’re gonna clean and tenderize your chicken, and I cut them into nice meaty chunks. Sprinkle on the rosemary, salt, and pepper and wait for the peaches to be done.

Throw the chicken in with peaches and let them cook till most of the juices run out, but not completely! Then remove the chicken onto a plate and wait.

Take 3 or 4 of the peach halves and set them aside to use as garnish later, they should be nice and mushy and the skins should be just about able to fall off. Pour the rest of the peaches and onion mixture into a pot on the back burner, add a good full cup of wine and let them simmer and bubble till it starts to thicken. Should take a good 15 minutes or so. Add a dash of sugar if it’s not sweet enough!

Use the skillet from before and use the rest of the butter, then throw the chicken back in. Leave it on high heat and let the sides of the chicken get nice and roasted toasted. Golden brown is what you want! Once they’re done, you can start plating the chicken.

You’re gonna strain the sauce from the back burner through a sifter or a colander if you have one, otherwise… Good luck, I hate chunky glaze. The sauce should be pink, and be very fragrant of onion and peach! Duh…

For the main staple I made some Jasmine rice, and also a nice bitter vegetable like asparagus with lemon pepper and white vinegar [Basically just my caramelized asparagus recipe, which as you can tell i'm very fond of!]. Brustlesprouts wouldn’t be a bad choice either! But it was nice to counterbalance the sweetness of the peaches. And for a starch filler, I pumped out some jasmine rice... Hope I don't need to explain how to cook that since you just need to follow the instructions ;P

Drip the sauce over the rice and chicken and voila! This was a great experiment, and I look forward to using other fruits like apples and pears. Have a good one guys! I've gotta run to the DMV today and see why the hell my license is suspended, oh the woes of me! Haha.

Later Food Lovers,
Justin Francis Kane
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Lemon Breaded Chicken with Caramelized String Beans

I haven't cooked anything in about a week! It's been driving me stir crazy. But this is a really simple recipe that's super inexpensive at the same time. And your family will just eat it up lickety-split!

Ingredients:

• 5 chicken breasts
• 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, pressed and minced
• squeeze of two full lemons
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of rosemary
• 3 to 4 eggs
• splash of milk
• bread crumbs
• fresh oats
• drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

I started off cooking my beans because they really take the longest. Snap off the ends, throw them in a pot, and cook away! I'm just gonna link you to the recipe since I already did it with asparagus last week or so. >>> Here. I got that recipe from my mom, she used to always make string beans like this almost every meal. I just saw her this past Sunday for her birthday party and I've really missed her since I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving.

Next you're gonna prepare the chicken, tenderize the hell out of it and cut it to your liking. I did about 1 inch strips, kind of like chicken tender size. If you want to make them bigger by all means! You're going to be frying these in oil on the stove, and 5 chicken breasts cut up super small can take 3 to 4 big batches. And that's a lot of handiwork.

Put the chicken in a large bowl and squeeze in your lemon, pepper, salt, rosemary, and garlic. Remember, a little rosemary goes a long way! Squish it all around with your hands to make sure everything is spread evenly.

Mix up your eggs and dash of milk in a bowl big enough for you to dip the chicken in. On a plate next to that, pour your bread crumbs and a large handful of oats. So from your left to right, you should have the bowl of chicken, the egg mixture, the crumbs and oats, and then a separate clean plate to place your breaded chicken! Like a little assembly line.

Once you've got that all set, get a large skillet on medium heat and pour in a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Let it heat up for a second and start throwing on your chicken. The chicken should only need 2 minutes on each side... Depending on how thick you cut it. You can tell when one side is ready because the chicken will start to puff up and turn white around the edges. Flip it over and it should be nice and golden brown on one side. Use tongs, it makes it easiest. Test a little piece of each batch you do, you don't want to overcook the chicken... But you don't want to undercook it either. It should be super moist and delicious, not dried out and sandy.

Each batch you do you'll want to scrape off the extra bread crumbs that fell off from the previous batch into the garbage, and use a fresh drizzle of oil! Otherwise you're gonna start burning your chicken and that's no fun is it? So I hope you guys like it! This makes a ton of chicken, there were four of us and we had a lot of leftovers. But we didn't have a starch besides the bread crumbs, so we made up for it in extra chicken. And we didn't have a lot of beans! They cook down pretty good, so make sure you get a hefty bag of them. Oh, and don't forget to squeeze a little fresh lemon juice over the top when you're done!

I'm off to stretch and work out... Ugh, I love doing it... But just getting the motivation really sucks doesn't it? Haha,

Later Food Lovers!
Justin Francis Kane
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