Good evening all! So dinner tonight incorporated a lot of my favorite things and turned out to be a real winner! On the menu tonight was Rachael Ray's Sliced Chicken with Apples, Pears, & Camembert Mashed Potatoes!!
First up start the potatoes. You can use any potato you like to make mashed potatoes. The recipe calls for yukon gold potatoes and that's what I always use unless the recipe specifically calls for a different potato. Reason being, the yukon gold potatoes have such a soft skin there is no need to peel them. Simply chop the potatoes into like shapes and sizes, place them in a pot and cover with cold water. Place them on the stove, put the lid on them and bring them to a boil. Rachael Tip: Two tips in one here. First tip, Do not fill the pot with water before you place the potatoes in the pot and don't cover them in warm water. Place the potatoes in the pot first and cover with cold water to ensure even cooking for all the potatoes. Second tip is to be sure and take the lid off the potatoes when they start to boil. The potatoes have a lot of starch in them and if the lid is left on after they start boiling, the starch in the potatoes will cause the pot to overflow. Once the potatoes are done, drain them and return them to the hot pot. Rachael Tip: Returning the potatoes right back to the hot pot will evaporate the remaining water on the potatoes and prevent having runny mashed potatoes. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper and mash with the milk, cream or half and half, whichever you prefer, and the Camembert cheese. Camembert is a soft brie cheese that is widely available in most supermarkets today, but if you can't find Camembert specifically, you can use any ripe brie cheese. While the potatoes are cooking, you can move on to the chicken!
The chicken really couldn't be any easier. Take 4 chicken breasts, season with salt and pepper on both sides and cook them until done, about 12-15 minutes depending on the size of the breasts, turning once. Heads up on the chicken breasts. Make sure to get chicken breasts that are not overly large. They should be about 4-6oz. each. The chicken breasts I bought were much larger than that, took much longer to cook, and wouldn't all fit in the pan at the same time so I had to cook them in two batches, thus causing me to take a lot more time to make dinner than I wanted to. If you have a market locally that has fresh chicken in a case like going to a butcher, that is where I would recommend going to purchase (Whole Foods is my fav place to go). Buying prepackaged can lead to random weight chicken. But, I digress. Once the chicken is cooked remove it to a plate, Cover with aluminum foil and allow the juices to redistribute in the chicken while you prepare the apple and pear.
In the same skillet you prepared the chicken melt the butter and add your apple and pear to the pan. There are a couple different apples you can use for this recipe. Thankfully, living in New England now, apples are plentiful here. I really love the honey crisp apples and that is what i used for the dish. Of the apples listed in the recipe,
use whichever you have access to and whichever have the best price at the market! Once they are in the pan, season with salt and nutmeg. I recommend using freshly grated nutmeg if you have it. You could substitute already grated nutmeg if you have it and don't want to purchase whole cloves of nutmeg, but the freshly grated nutmeg has a stronger flavor and the aroma is amazing! Squeeze in the lemon juice and give everything a toss. Heads up!! You're going to need the zest of the lemon for garnish so be sure to zest it before you cut it and squeeze out the juice! Once the apple and pear are tender crisp squeeze in the honey and toss and let it cook out for about a minute longer. I actually add most of the thyme at this point as well. The recipe calls for you to simply garnish the plates with the thyme and lemon zest but i actually threw some of the time into the apple and pear while the honey cooked out and saved a little of it for garnish.
When the apples are done, remove the chicken breasts from the foil and slice each breast on an angle. Plate the potatoes on the plate and fan the chicken breast slices around the potatoes. Top them with the apple and pear and garnish the plate with a little of the thyme and some lemon zest. The end result is really great! The chicken has a nice salty and peppery taste and the fruit has a sweet and tart flavor that balances out perfectly! The potatoes are rich and creamy and make a great compliment to the chicken and fruit. This one was great and I hope you all enjoy it! Until next time, happy cooking!!
First up start the potatoes. You can use any potato you like to make mashed potatoes. The recipe calls for yukon gold potatoes and that's what I always use unless the recipe specifically calls for a different potato. Reason being, the yukon gold potatoes have such a soft skin there is no need to peel them. Simply chop the potatoes into like shapes and sizes, place them in a pot and cover with cold water. Place them on the stove, put the lid on them and bring them to a boil. Rachael Tip: Two tips in one here. First tip, Do not fill the pot with water before you place the potatoes in the pot and don't cover them in warm water. Place the potatoes in the pot first and cover with cold water to ensure even cooking for all the potatoes. Second tip is to be sure and take the lid off the potatoes when they start to boil. The potatoes have a lot of starch in them and if the lid is left on after they start boiling, the starch in the potatoes will cause the pot to overflow. Once the potatoes are done, drain them and return them to the hot pot. Rachael Tip: Returning the potatoes right back to the hot pot will evaporate the remaining water on the potatoes and prevent having runny mashed potatoes. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper and mash with the milk, cream or half and half, whichever you prefer, and the Camembert cheese. Camembert is a soft brie cheese that is widely available in most supermarkets today, but if you can't find Camembert specifically, you can use any ripe brie cheese. While the potatoes are cooking, you can move on to the chicken!
The chicken really couldn't be any easier. Take 4 chicken breasts, season with salt and pepper on both sides and cook them until done, about 12-15 minutes depending on the size of the breasts, turning once. Heads up on the chicken breasts. Make sure to get chicken breasts that are not overly large. They should be about 4-6oz. each. The chicken breasts I bought were much larger than that, took much longer to cook, and wouldn't all fit in the pan at the same time so I had to cook them in two batches, thus causing me to take a lot more time to make dinner than I wanted to. If you have a market locally that has fresh chicken in a case like going to a butcher, that is where I would recommend going to purchase (Whole Foods is my fav place to go). Buying prepackaged can lead to random weight chicken. But, I digress. Once the chicken is cooked remove it to a plate, Cover with aluminum foil and allow the juices to redistribute in the chicken while you prepare the apple and pear.
In the same skillet you prepared the chicken melt the butter and add your apple and pear to the pan. There are a couple different apples you can use for this recipe. Thankfully, living in New England now, apples are plentiful here. I really love the honey crisp apples and that is what i used for the dish. Of the apples listed in the recipe,
When the apples are done, remove the chicken breasts from the foil and slice each breast on an angle. Plate the potatoes on the plate and fan the chicken breast slices around the potatoes. Top them with the apple and pear and garnish the plate with a little of the thyme and some lemon zest. The end result is really great! The chicken has a nice salty and peppery taste and the fruit has a sweet and tart flavor that balances out perfectly! The potatoes are rich and creamy and make a great compliment to the chicken and fruit. This one was great and I hope you all enjoy it! Until next time, happy cooking!!
This recipe can be found in Rachael Ray's cookbook "Look + Cook"
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