A Recipe for You

Well, this is my chicken with pear sauce recipe. I think you will get some insight into how I think when you read this....and, yes, you'll probably be a bit frightened.

Chicken w/ a Pear Sauce (with Rice and Brussel Sprouts)

Ingredients:

chicken (thighs or breasts w/ bone)

2-3 pears

shallots

olive oil

flour

beef broth

red wine

honey

salt n peppah

rice

veggie (usually brussels sprouts for me)

let's see... In a sauce pan, put in a can of beef broth and an equal amount of red wine. Set at simmer or a little higher. This will give it a chance to start reducing while you're prepping. Every once in a while, it's a good idea to stir this and to scrape any residue off of the sides of the pan. Though it can come to a slow boil, it shouldn't boil too much and does well at a heavy simmer.

Put on the water for the rice (3 cups), but at this point just put it on somewhere between low and simmer. (if it starts to boil before you get to the rice step, be sure to turn it down so that it doesn't start to evaporate).

I usually set up the veggie steamer at this point, though I don't turn it on yet...

Turn the oven on to 350 degrees

Dredge the chicken in flour, set aside.

Peel and chop up the pears into small pieces.

Chop a shallot or two (if small) as finely as possible.

Put some olive oil (not too too much) in the frying pan and heat up fairly hot. Put the chicken in and fry for a minute or two or three on each side.

If the rice is far from boiling at this point, kick up the heat.

Remove the chicken from the frying pan (and lower the heat on the pan) and put into the oven pan. Put in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes.

Using the wooden spoon, stir the roux in the frying pan, try to scrape up any bits of chicken stuck to the pan. Season with some salt and pepper. Adjust the heat to a moderate level and then saute the shallots for a minute or so. Add the pears and saute those for a few minutes. The more saute-ing the better.

At the 22 minute point, put in the rice and do the rice thang. Also, start heating the water for the veggie. Turn off the wine/broth pan.

When the pears have softened a bit (the more the better) turn up the heat and add the wine/broth sauce. If it has reduced too much, add a bit more wine. Stir regularly.

Be sure to get the veggie steamer up to boiling by the 10 minute point. At the 10 minute point (for sprouts) put the veggie on.

Check the chicken occasionally to see what it's up to.

Add a little honey to the sauce.

At the 4 or 5 minute point, take the chicken out of the oven and add to the sauce. Try to avoid adding any of the grease in your pan to the sauce. Everything should finish up at the same time.

******** And that's it. If you try to make this recipe and find I'm missing a step or three, please let me know.