Apple-Chicken Bake

How often does one of the boneless chicken breast recipes come along and happens to be a quick-fix main dish with a fresh orange and white-wine glaze? And no-one will ever guess. Plus, this light, sweet glaze adds so much to the overall apple-chicken dish itself and the glaze comes together in no time.

One little note about the wine...there is a good cooking rule which states that no wine should be used for cooking that a person would not choose to drink with dinner.

It's a good "rule of thumb," so the "wines" you find in a grocery isle at a supermarket, probably should stay right there. When you put your love into your own Apple-Chicken Bake, it deserves a nice, but not necessarily an expensive, wine.

I used a nice Pinot Grigio and we enjoyed the rest with our dinner. If you prefer a Chardonnay, by all means use your favorite Chardonnay.

You'll notice from the photograph that I served a nice baked potato and fresh carrots to round out our Apple-Chicken meal, but our Baked Carrot Casserole would be a perfect accompaniment as well. I have to laugh because my family is getting accustomed to food being photographed before its eaten.

Ingredients

6 medium-sized chicken breast halves, skinned and boned

2-3 apples, chopped (I used Gala and left them unpared...the red made a nice contrast to the chicken.)

1/2 cup raisins (I used dark, but golden would do just fine, too.)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons sugar

Glaze Ingredients

1/4 cup white wine

2 tablespoons of sugar

Juice and zest of 1 orange (The zest is just the very outside or orange-colored skin of the orange. Do not go down to the white layer at all.)

Method

• Preheat oven to 325°F.

• Butter, grease or spray a 13x9x2 casserole dish.

• Combine apples, raisins, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

• Place mixture in the bottom of your casserole dish.

• Wash, dry, and season the chicken with salt and pepper.

• Arrange nicely on top of apple-raisin mixture.

• Bake uncovered for 1 hour.

  For glaze:

• Combine wine, sugar, juice and orange zest in a small saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes, while the chicken and apples are baking for the hour.

• At the end of that time, brush glaze on and while the dish cooks for an additional 30 minutes, you will brush the glaze on 2 or 3 more times.

  To serve, spoon the delicious apple and raisins over the chicken.

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