Sunday, January 27, 2008

Sunday Dinner - Chicken with Caramelized Onions and Sage

Another Sunday with lots of time to cook - I love it! My parents came over for dinner tonight so of course I wanted to try something different.

Tonight's Menu:

- Pasta e Fagioli; see the post below for the recipe and pictures.
- Chicken with Caramelized Onions and Sage
- Parmesan Cous Cous
- Roasted Vegetables - yellow squash, zucchini, orange pepper, grape tomatoes, and red onions

Everything was so good that I have to post a picture of the final product now!

Chicken with Caramelized Onions and Sage

I found
this recipe on epicurious.com a while back and saved it for an occasion like this. It was a little time consuming, but not difficult at all. I took so many pictures during every stage of the preparation because it was just so pretty! And the final result was a sweet, savory, and juicy chicken dish that would impress anyone!

Below is the recipe with my changes (original recipe included olives and called for bone-in chicken breasts).

Ingredients

  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 white onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 - 1 1/2 red onions, thinly sliced
  • ¾ tbsp tablespoons honey
  • ½ bottle dry white wine
  • 4-5 large fresh sage leaves
  • 4 large shallots, peeled and quartered
  • 5 large garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
  • 2 bay leaves

Directions

  • Rinse chicken; pat dry. Arrange on foil.
  • Mix cumin, salt, paprika, and turmeric in bowl. Sprinkle over both sides of chicken. Let stand while preparing onions.
  • Prepare onions: Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add all onions. Saute until pale golden, about 30 minutes. Mix in honey. Saute until onions are deep brown, about 15 minutes. Turn off heat.
  • Tilt skillet, pushing onions toward top and allowing oil to pool at bottom. Using slotted spoon, remove onions from pan and spread evenly in large roasting pan. Reserve skillet with oil.
  • Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F.
  • Heat oil reserved in skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown chicken, about 4-5 minutes per side.
  • Arrange chicken in single layer atop onions in roasting pan/baking dish.
  • Remove skillet from heat. Add 1/2 cup wine to hot skillet. Let stand until bubbling stops. Add remaining wine.
  • Place skillet over medium-high heat; boil to reduce, scraping up bits, about 9 minutes.
  • Tuck sage, shallots, garlic, and bay leaves among chicken breasts

  • Spoon wine mixture over chicken

  • Cover pan tightly with foil and bake chicken 30 minutes. Uncover; Baste with juices if needed (I didn't need to do this). Return to oven, uncovered, and continue baking until chicken is tender and fully cooked, about 10-15 minutes.
  • To serve, plate chicken, top with onions, shallots, and garlic, and top with wine sauce.

Here it is after cooking in the oven - doesn't it look great?

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Roasted Vegetables

I love roasting veggies - broccoli, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, pretty much anything. Tonight I used a colorful mix of fresh veggies: yellow squash, zucchini, orange bell pepper, grape tomatoes, and a few pieces of chopped red onion.

I put them in a baking dish and drizzled them with olive oil, then topped them with some salt, black pepper, and freshly chopped parsley. They baked in the oven on 350 for about 15 minutes. Delicious!

I hate to admit it but I used Near East Parmesan Couscous as our side... I would normally use a plan grain and add my own flavor, but I had enough going on in the kitchen tonight!

I'd highly recommend this meal. I will definitely make the chicken again, and next time I'll experiment with some other flavors.

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3 comments:

  1. wow, this meal is impressive! definitely something i could only do on the weekends... i love caramelized onions!

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  2. I love carmelized onions with anything (well...almost anything). But this WHOLE meal looks amazing! I'm going to have to put it on the list for when my husband gets home!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your meal looks delicious. I definitely want to try the chicken recipe.

    ReplyDelete