Last night I planned on having Lemon Basil Chicken for dinner - it was so good last week I wanted it again. Unfortunately I didn't have any fresh lemons, I had lots of lemon basil as I grow my own, but no lemons? Can't do it without the lemons!
I did, however, have this gynormous jug of apple juice and I can only drink so many apple martinis. I keep looking at this huge thing in my fridge and wondering what to do with it - then I decided that apples might be a nice alternative to the lemons for my chicken. So I grabbed my scissors and clipped off a few twigs of Texas Tarragon, some onion chives and headed to the kitchen to experiment.
I have to tell you - this experiment turned out so great I twittered about it and a bunch of my tweeps asked for the recipe! So, here for you, my loyal reader, and for my new readers from Twitter:
BAKED APPLE TARRAGON CHICKEN BREASTS
4 Chicken Breasts, bone in & skin on!
1 Apple sliced as discs
2 cups apple juice
4 Sprigs of Texas Tarragon
Kosher Salt
Olive Oil
1 Bunch of Green Onions, chopped
Chives for Garnish (and the baked potato side!)
Preheat oven to 375.
RUB FOR CHICKEN BREASTS:
Clean, dry and chop the tarragon. Pour about 1/4 cup of olive oil into a small bowl, add a teaspoon of kosher salt, about 1 tablespoon of apple juice, a handful of the chopped onions and the tarragon then muddle this together.
Lift the skin of the chicken and rub this mixture all over the breast. Place 2 or 3 slices of the apple on top of this then pull the skin back over. Rub more of the mixture on the skin.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes - 50 minutes depending on the size of your breasts.
THE SAUCE:
In a sauce pan pour in a few tablespoons of olive oil and saute the rest of the green onions for a few minutes, add the tarragon, the remaining apple juice, salt and a few slices of apple. Reduce this on a medium heat until the juice has reduced down and the sauce is just starting to caramelize (this is tricky, if you walk away to Twitter it can burn at this point!). The sauce will have thickened to a nice consistency and be a medium brown. Strain out the onions, tarragon and apple slices.
Start the sauce about 30 - 40 minutes into the baking time of the chicken and it should be ready just in time to serve over your crispy, juicy chicken breasts! Remember - do not walk away just for a "few tweets" - you know how it sucks you in!
Pour the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle on a few chives and serve! BTW, my
Apple Martini recipe is great as a cocktail to enjoy while the chicken is baking - serve the Apple Martini with some lovely smoked Gouda and crackers. Or serve my
Caramel Apple Martini with cheese as a dessert course!
Serve up with some Basmati rice, a baked potato or some other side and enjoy those juicy, sweet chicken boobies - ok, now you can go back and Twitter!
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This is a recipe that is a bite size version of a side dish my Mom used to make when I was a kid. She would take her home grown tomatoes, slice them in half, spread Miracle Whip on them, sprinkle them with Parmesan Cheese and then stick them under the broiler. I hated tomatoes when I was a kid but I liked these - probably because of the sweetness of the Miracle Whip!
