Chicken with Apples and Thyme

Behold the lowly chicken breast: boring and bland, but generally cheap to purchase.  Pros and cons, people, pros and cons.  However, the very best thing about them is that they’re basically a blank canvas just waiting to be converted into edible art, and cooking is really the only art form I know anything about!  Convenient for this blog, yes? 

So let’s say you grabbed some of said chicken breasts at your local grocery store, but you have no idea what to do next.  There they are, sitting on your counter, just waiting for inspiration to hit.  Hey, here’s a thought…bear with me for this one…

Do you like apples?  How do you like THESE apples with your chicken?!  Sorry, I couldn’t resist a good movie line.

Anyways, I’ve talked in the past about how apples are great with pork.  Did you know they are also just as great with chicken?  And your kids probably didn’t eat the ones you bought last week anyway, so use them for this recipe instead.  Go get ‘em out of your fruit bowl.  Hopefully, they’re not too wrinkly yet.

Chop them up into thin wedges.  Grab an onion and chop that up as well since you’re in a chopping frame of mind.

Heat up a few drizzles of olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat.  Salt and pepper your chicken and get to sizzling!

Brown them on either side for around 8 minutes and then remove them from the pan.  Add your onions to the pan and cook them for another 8 minutes until they soften.  Then, add a cup of chicken broth.

The apples (that have been patiently waiting all this time) can now be added to the pan to cook in the yummy oniony chickeny broth for a few minutes to help them soften.  Ah what the heck, let's throw in a 1/4 cup of white wine as well before adding our chicken back into the mix.

Sprinkle the whole darn thing with some fresh thyme.  It adds a pop of both flavor and color to this lovely, simple dish.  Let it all cook on a simmer for ten minutes to make sure the chicken is cooked through.  Raw chicken is NOT your friend.  

Plate yourself a piece of chicken with plenty of sauce and apples.  Feel free to serve over rice or noodles, but I opted for a salad side.

Meat and fruit can be the best of pals under certain circumstances.  This is definitely one of them.

Try it.  You'll like it.

-Sam

Chicken with Apples and Thyme

(Serves 2)

1 medium onion

1 medium apple

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tbsp. olive oil

salt

pepper

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 tsp fresh thyme

Chop an apple and an onion into thin slices.  Salt and pepper the chicken.  In a saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium heat and brown the chicken on both sides for about 8 minutes.  Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Add the onion to the pan and saute for 8 minutes until softened.  Add the chicken broth, apple slices, wine, and thyme and simmer for 10 more minutes, until chicken is cooked through.  Serve hot.