Chicken With Caramelised Baby Onions and Pears
- Ready In:
- 1hr 10mins
- Ingredients:
- 13
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 4 small firm beurre bosc pears or 2 large firm beurre bosc pears, unpeeled, quartered and cored
- 40 g unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 500 g shallots or 500 g baby onions
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 large chicken, jointed
- sea salt, to taste
- fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- good pinch saffron thread
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 -2 tablespoon clear honey
- 100 g blanched almonds (optional)
directions
- Melt the butter in a non-stick pan over a medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil and sauté the pear quarters until they are lightly coloured, then set aside.
- Blanch the eschalots or baby onions in boiling water for 5 minutes, and drain. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the eschalots and trim the root ends.
- Sauté the eschallots in a little sunflower oil, in a non-stick pan (you can use the same pan as you used to sauté the pears) over a medium heat, shaking the pan and turning the eschalots until they are browned and caramelized on all sides.
- Remove the eschalots from the pan and drain them on paper kitchen towelling.
- Add 3-4 tablespoons of oil to a casserole pot large enough to include the chicken pieces, pears and eschalots, and sauté the chopped onion over a medium heat until it begins to soften; then add the chicken pieces and lightly brown them on all sides. Season to taste.
- Add 1 cup of water, and stir in the saffron threads, ginger and cinnamon, and cook, covered, over a low heat, turning the pieces over several times, for 10-15 minutes or until the breasts are cooked.
- Remove the breasts, set aside and keep warm.
- Add the caramelised eschalots to the pot.
- If the pear quarters are still firm (see also step 14), add them to the pot now and continue to cook, covered, over a low heat, for 25 minutes or until the remaining chicken pieces are very tender, turning occasionally, and adding a little more water if it is needed.
- Lift the chicken pieces out, set aside with the breasts, and keep warm.
- Stir the honey into the pot and check the seasoning. You will need quite a bit of pepper to balance the sweetness.
- Cook uncovered to reduce the sauce if necessary, until the sauce has the consistency of thick jam.
- Return all the chicken pieces to the pot and heat through.
- If the pears were soft enough after they were sautéed, add them at this point. A few minutes heating should be enough.
- If you are serving this dish with blanched almonds, lightly toast the almonds under the grill or dry sauté them in a non-stick pan (or you can add a drop of oil).
- Serve over rice, noodles or couscous.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
July 2008 update: VERY happy to be back on Zaar after about a two year absence due to having had no internet connection at home, and having been too unwell for a time so that getting re-connected wasn't even a priority!
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<br>And really looking forward to getting back into the Zaar world and connecting again with the many wonderful people I knew before, and new people, of course!