Monday, January 18, 2010

Comfort Food...

It's been chilly and drizzly here lately. (This is an improvement over the snow and ice.) To keep warm and feel comforted, I decided to whip up a quick midwinter meal.
I first started by boiling the potatoes in salted water. Next, I fried up some bacon and used the pan drippings and bacon fat to brown some seasoned boneless chicken breasts. I placed them in a baking dish. I then caramelized some onions and layered them overtop the chicken breasts. I deglazed the pan with some apple cider vinegar, chicken stock, soy sauce, and apple juice, added the liquid to the baking dish, and popped it in the oven (covered) for 45 minutes. While the chicken was in the oven, I drained the potatoes and smashed them. Once they were smashed, I added some milk, butter and the bacon. The chicken came out perfectly tender, juicy and flavorful. The potatoes were great because they helped soak up some of that beautiful liquid that reduced a bit in the oven. It was a great meal on a cold winter night.

8 comments:

Annette said...

Reading such posts, I get hungry!

Best regards from Switzerland

Annette ;-)))

SueBeads said...

Looks SO yummy!

Jean Hutter said...

Looks fantastic - love your food posts - but then I am going to Weight Watchers and even my cats food looks good!!!!! Always a struggle.

Anonymous said...

Yum, bacon! Sounds delicious. I'm salivating. I love bacon.

jeannie said...

I'm curious who taught you to cook or are you good at it because you enjoy it?
Does Cynthia share your passion for cooking?

Ann said...

I have to try this one!

Silver Parrot said...

Okay, you're killing me with the whole bacon fat thing - nothing tastes better than food cooked with bacon fat as flavoring!

Just wanted to say thanks for the comment on my blog yesterday and I will definitely contact Greg when I need to stock up, but I still hope GG will be able to make it back to the West Coast occasionally in the future (assuming we do not actually wash away this week) because nothing takes the place of actually fondling...er...picking out supplies with one's own two hands :-)

Andrew Thornton said...

I was never formally taught to cook, but I get a lot of inspiration from my mom and grandma. I grew up watching them in the kitchen and Julia Childs and Martin Yan on PBS. I also worked in the restaurant industry for years and worked in Tom Colicchio's restaurants. Part of my love of food comes from the chefs I met there. I do love Martha's magazines and am addicted to Food Network and watch it with the family while I'm in Asheville.

Yes, Cynthia's into food also. We try to impress each other with our gourmet skills.