Friday, July 9, 2010

What a peach!

Last Sunday we went to the Farmer's Market in our new neighborhood - ahh! yes, we have a farmer's market!!! - and picked up a variety of fresh produce, some zucchini flowers, blueberries, eggs, lettuce greens, gelato (that somehow never made it beyond noon on Sunday) and peaches.

Peaches were not a fruit I grew up loving, I was more of a basic kind of girl, apple, banana, orange, grapes, but after visiting enough Farmer's Market and seeing and smelling the ripe little fruits they were hard to resist.
Sometimes I'll cut up the peaches with oatmeal for breakfast, or grill them with yogurt for dessert but this week I made them the main event for a dinner I am calling, "What Spices do I have in my new Kitchen Peaches and Chicken?"


Bon appetito!


Ingredients:
Two bone-in chicken breasts, with the skin on
Peaches (3)

1 large onion
1/2 lemon
Garlic
Butter for the pan and chicken

Olive oil for the pan and chicken
Splash of balsamic vinegar

Salt
Pepper

Old Bay seasoning
A sprinkle of brown sugar
**You might notice there is a jar of jam (apricot) I never used it. Also the bag of slivered almonds was used for the spinach - yum!

I don't like to clean up a lot of pots and pans so I did everything in an oven-safe pan. Okay butter in the pan, and I rubbed a bit of butter on the skin and sprinkled on a generous amount of Kosher salt, fresh pepper and Old Bay.While this is lightly browning on the stove, it's time to get chopping...


I chop my onions to be a pretty decent size, so that they are a part of the dish, not just for flavoring. Next everything goes right in the chicken pan and into the oven. I also put a bit of chopped garlic under the skin of the chicken just for flavoring.On a whim I decided to throw in a splash of balsamic vinegar for color and a little more tart rich flavor. This baked at 400 with the top on for about 30 minutes. (My oven is a little finicky right now, so I kept checking, and I wouldn't swear by that time or temperature.) With about 10 minutes left in the baking, I sprinkled on a teeny bit of brown sugar on the skin- for an extra sweet surprise.


While this was baking away and making a sweet, and hearty sauce I prepared the spinach. So simple and satisfying. I heated up a little butter and slivered almonds for a light golden color and then replaced the almonds in the pan with sliced garlic. When the garlic was also nice and golden I added frozen spinach (I know, frozen!). When everything was nice and combined I added the almonds again and prepared to serve.


Bon appetito!

1 comment:

  1. with combination of peaches and onions, it is almost like the beginnings of a chutney...

    ReplyDelete