Rosemary Apple Chicken
Every Friday night, I roast a chicken. My children are willing to consume any chicken dish as long as it contains fruit. Such is our unspoken agreement.
This past week, I used apples to lure my children to their protein dish. The combination of rosemary with apples was a natural pairing and the balsamic vinegar, which caramelized during roasting, sweetly permeated the entire chicken.
As I served this up to my family and asked how they liked it, my younger son exclaimed, “Mommy, it’s AMAZING!” Needless to say, I’m quite happy with the outcome of this little experiment, which yielded good results on the very first try.
1 chicken (2 to 3 pounds)
¼ cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon celtic sea salt
4 apples, cored and sliced
4 sprigs rosemary
- Rinse the chicken, pat dry with a paper towel and place in a 9×12 inch glass baking dish
- Drizzle with oil and vinegar, then sprinkle with salt
- Arrange the apples around the chicken in the baking dish
- Place the sprigs of rosemary under the chicken
- Bake at 350° for 90 minutes, until browned on the outside
- Serve
Serves 6
This delicious fruited chicken dish is great for guests, providing warm soft apples as comfort food along with a good dose of protein - all in one dinner.
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Subscribe by Email to elanaspantry.com:Posted on November 4, 2007 in entrees by Elana
you might also like: Balsamic Roasted Turkey with Apple Stuffing
or Chicken Salad with Almonds
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Hi Elana!
You inspired me to make a version of this rosemary apple chicken tonight for dinner and it was a huge hit! My fiancé even said that he thinks it belongs in a restaurant :)
I ended up with a slightly larger chicken - 4.5 lbs - since I wanted leftovers. A few hours before cooking, I destemmed 1-2 sprigs of rosemary and let them marinate in some extra virgin olive oil. I later added salt and pepper to the mixture.
After washing the chicken, I separated the skin from the muscle and slathered the rosemary/oil mixture in this area. This way, if I take off the skin (which I do for most of the chicken), there is still flavor on the meat. I also put another sprig in the cavity - I wasn’t sure what you meant by under the chicken.
Instead of using a pyrex lasagna-style dish or roasting pan, I arranged the chicken breast-side down in my Circulon dutch oven. I put the apples around the chicken, but next time will cut them thicker to discourage disintegration. I cooked it covered at a slightly lower temperature, and only uncovered it for the last 30 minutes of cooking, which resulted in crispy skin and juicy, moist chicken.
I am so happy with the results. This dish will definitely be made again during Pesach, possibly for my seder, which my grandparents are flying in for.
In the meantime, I have my leftovers to look forward to:
- a spinach salad with breast meat, fresh pineapple chunks, dried cranberries, and some shredded carrots and apples (I love colorful salads)
- my Pumpkin chicken skillet, based off of Gluten-Free Mommy’s pumpkin chicken tortillas (but I try to limit my corn-intake so my version tops the filling on baked sweet potatoes. Yumm!
Thanks again!
February 3rd, 2008 4:53 pm
Hi M- Great to hear from you again. I am glad that you and your fiance liked this dish and enjoyed hearing about the twists you added to it –love the idea of serving this for Pesach, I might just have to do that myself!
Elana
February 4th, 2008 11:44 am
Unfortunately, I momentarily forgot about the balsamic when I made my comment about Pesach; no vinegar is allowed. But it will be great the rest of the year, especially for Shabbat dinners.
February 4th, 2008 2:51 pm
M- Yes, I completely spaced on that too. Hmm, I wonder what we could use for this instead of the vinegar. It would make such a nice main dish for a festive Pesach meal. if I think of anything I’ll let you know. Likewise, keep me posted if you get a good idea for a vinegar substitute…
Elana
February 4th, 2008 3:14 pm
Hmm, what about lemon or lime juice - another acid? It might not taste as sweet, but it would also tenderize the meat. When I make my turkey, I put lemons and lemon juice under the skin (like others do with butter) and achieve the same effect and the meat does not taste lemony, at least to me.
February 4th, 2008 3:19 pm
~M, I think this is a great idea. I think for Pesach I would use some lemon juice and maybe a tablespoon of agave to replace the sweetness of the balsamic. Thanks for all of your comments and ideas!
Elana
February 11th, 2008 2:24 pm
Hi Elana,
Besides apples and peaches, what other fruit have you roasted alongside your poultry? I’m trying to come up with an option that would be in season now, but am drawing blanks.
Thanks!
March 2nd, 2008 2:31 pm
Hi M, I am currently working on a recipe for roasted chicken with oranges.
Also, Claudia Roden (my favorite cookbook author –she is an Egyptian Jew and has amazing Sephardic recipes) has some good recipes using Morrocan salted lemons with chicken. I love her book, Arabesque.
March 4th, 2008 2:27 pm
Balsamic vinegar is made from wine and is therefore not chometz. Vinegars that are grain-based are the problem.
Bartenura makes a kosher for passover one that is probably available in most supermarkets around this time of year.
I use it alot on Pesach!
April 13th, 2008 7:16 pm
Sarah –Yes a kosher l’pesach balsamic would work very well in turning this into a Passover dish. Thanks for the clarification/suggestion!
April 13th, 2008 11:31 pm
and does the apple contribute any of its flavour to the chicken just sitting beside it in the oven?
June 24th, 2008 5:56 pm
Jenny — The combination of rosemary, apples and balsamic vinegar sweetly permeates the entire chicken as mentioned in the description of the recipe in the post above.
June 25th, 2008 3:06 pm
Elana,
I just started cooking. As a husband for the past 10 years, I finally discovered cooking. This chicken seems great and I am typing this while the chicken is cooling. I am pretty sure the kids will love it too. The only thing was using a 9×13 pan, where all the apples didn’t fit nor didn’t get covered with the juice. Should have listened to my wife and baste.
October 16th, 2008 9:57 pm
Doron,
Nothing better than a cooking husband! Yes, if you used a bigger size chicken than called for in the recipe or had very large apples, then I suppose it all wouldn’t have fit in the recommended baking dish –was that the problem?
I hope you, the kids and wife enjoyed it and thanks for your comment.
Elana
October 17th, 2008 11:16 am
Elana,
I am sure the size of the chicken or apples was a factor here. Nothing better than learning from experience.
Doron
October 17th, 2008 3:46 pm
Thanks for your comments Doron!
October 21st, 2008 11:16 am
Reviewing over old comments to get inspired for poultry, I really like the idea of a lime-agave chicken! Maybe with a pinch of cinnamon or another warm spice. Like Karina’s amazing lime-agave-cinnamon salmon. Then again, anything lime wins thumbs up from me :)
November 20th, 2008 9:09 pm