Chicken with Bacon, Tomato, and Thyme

CHICKEN WITH BACON, TOMATO, AND THYME

Ingredients:
8 pieces bacon, par-cooked half-way (may use precooked)
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into halves
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
2 tablespoons red onion, chopped
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
1 bunch fresh thyme

To prepare:
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
To par-cook bacon, lay slices on a sheet pan and bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for about 10 minutes until half-cooked. Remove and reserve.

Working on a sheet pan, coat the chicken breast with olive oil and minced garlic. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Next, wrap 2 pieces of par-cooked bacon strips criss-cross around each piece of chicken, forming an "x" pattern in the center. Sprinkle with the diced onion and place a thick slice of Roma tomato and a couple sprigs of fresh thyme in the center of each breast, tucked in behind the bacon.

Arrange chicken a little apart from each other on the sheet pan and bake until the chicken is completely cooked and reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 30 minutes.

Serves 4.
George Stella
Low Carb and Lovin' It
recipe from foodnetwork.com

To serve:
One commenter made an interesting suggestion on the original post of this recipe. Catdaddy-n-Dr.Squeeky said...
The chicken recipe looks great. If you wanna kick it up a notch, though, you can serve it on a butternut squash sauce (which goes very well with chicken and herbs).

Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash
1 medum shallot
1/2 cup Spanish brandy
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup maple syrup
Butter
Kosher salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Spices (optional)

To prepare:
Roast a butternut squash (cut in half, seeds out, sprinkled with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper) cut side down on cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil) at 400-425°F for 50-60 minutes, until skin is a little brown and the squash is tender. let cool enough to handle.

In a sauce pan melt some butter (to taste) and saute one medium minced shallot. Once the shallot is translucent, deglaze the sauce pan with about 1/2 cup of spanish brandy (preferably sherry brandy - "brandy de jerez," which gives it a nice sweetness). Once the alcohol evaporates, add about 1/2 cup of chicken stock and about 1/4 cup of maple syrup. Lower the heat to low, then add the flesh of the butternut squash and mix. Adjust consistency by adding chicken stock if too thick. Transfer to blender or use a hand held (the hand held yields a more rustic sauce, the blender a smooth one) and blend until smooth. You can adjust thickness with chicken stock to get as thick or thin a sauce you want.

Once blended, transfer back to sauce pan and simmer for about 5 minutes and taste for salt and pepper. Ready to serve.

Some optional additions are about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon or quattre epices (a french combination of cinnamon, white pepper, cloves, and nutmeg).

What to do with the left over sauce?
-freeze in a freezer bag (squeeze air out)
-mix in some cream and make soup, add grilled shrimp, scallops, or crab meat.

Sounds delicious, no? And as is mentioned this can go with many chicken and herb dishes or can be eaten as a soup as suggested above. Thanks so much to Catdaddy-n-Dr.Squeeky for this wonderful suggestion, and for sharing the recipe!

NOTE: to view original post featuring this recipe click the recipe title at top of page.

Turtle Ice Cream

TURTLE ICE CREAM

This recipe makes 1 quart of ice cream. If you want 2 quarts, double it.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 cups heavy cream
1 Tbs pure vanilla extract
1.5 cups pecan halves (5 oz)
3 oz best-quality sweet chocolate, diced**
**(she recommends that you use Lindt Lindor truffles--a 3.5 oz package. If you can't find the truffles, use Lindt Swiss Milk Chocolate or, according to her, "any good milk chocolate is fine, too.")

To prepare:
Place 1/4 cup of water and the sugar in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, and cook over low heat, without stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to high and boil until the sugar turns a warm mahagony or caramel color, 3 to 5 minutes. Do not stir, but swirl the pan occassionally so the caramel cooks evenly.

Remove the caramel from the heat and carefully pour in the cream. The caramel is very hot, and the mixture will bubble up violently, then solidify. Don't worry. Return it to low heat and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the caramel dissolves, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the vanilla. Pour into a container and refrigerate until very cold.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Roast the pecans on a baking sheet for 8 to 10 minutes until crisp. Cool, chop, mix with the diced chocolate and store in the freezer until ready to use.

Freeze the caramel mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions (about 25 minutes). When it is frozen, add the cold chopped pecans and chocolate and mix in completely (about 5 minutes more). Transfer to quart containers and store in the freezer until ready to serve. Unlike other homemade ice creams this recipe stays soft in the freezer, it never hardens completely, but stays very creamy.


Makes one quart of soft, delicious, rich ice cream.
Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Parties Cookbooks
March 2001
recipe from amateurgourmet.com

NOTE: to view original post featuring this recipe click the recipe title at top of page.

Apple-Fig Crisp with Cherry Ice Cream

APPLE-FIG CRISP (with Cherry Ice Cream)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup pecans (about 3 ounces), toasted, chopped
1 1/4 cups chopped stemmed dried black Mission figs (about 6 1/2 ounces)
1/4 cup applejack or brandy
2 1/4 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, sliced 1/2 inch thick
Warm cream (optional)

To prepare:
Whisk 3/4 cup flour, 2/3 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice in medium bowl to blend. Rub in butter with fingertips until mixture forms moist clumps. Mix in pecans. (Topping can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 8 x 8 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Combine figs and applejack in large bowl. Let stand 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. (If you don't have anything available try apple juice instead, or just skip this step altogether, that's what I did).

Mix apples, 1 tablespoon flour, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice into figs. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with topping. Bake 40 minutes. Cover loosely with foil. Continue to bake until apples are very tender, about 20 minutes longer. Uncover; let cool at least 30 minutes.

To serve:
Spoon crisp into large shallow bowls. Serve with ice cream or cream, if desired.

Serves 6.
Bon Appétit
December 1998
recipe can be found here from epicurious.com

NOTE: to view original post featuring this recipe click the recipe title at top of page.