Balsamic Fig Glazed Chicken

This recipe was originally published to the blog in 2016. I’m giving the post an update. The sauce for this recipe is sweet and tangy. You can make this any time of year using fig jam, but I like making it in fall, when I start craving richer meals.

You never know where inspiration will find you, and this recipe is proof: some years ago, on a road trip, we stopped at a grocery store for a quick meal. I ended up ordering balsamic fig-glazed chicken from the deli counter. My expectations of the deli counter meal were low, so imagine my surprise when I took the first bite and found the glaze to be complex and full of flavor. This make-it-at-home version is far better than that deli version, a perfect dish for a dinner party on a crisp fall evening. Serve with a spicy red wine and this salad from Saveur (I use Asian Pears rather than apples for extra crunch).

Balsamic Fig Glazed Chicken

Published October 6, 2020 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 60 minutes

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Ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs (Breasts also work, but I prefer thighs because they tend to stay juicier; Chicken breasts tend to take longer to cook, so adjust accordingly)

2 tablespoons butter (or coconut oil)

1 medium-sized shallot

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup red wine

1/4 cup fig jam

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Salt & pepper

4-6 slices of Provolone cheese

Directions:

1. Start the sauce: Mince shallots and garlic. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in saucepan. When butter is sizzling, add shallots and garlic. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt, and sauté until shallots are translucent and starting to brown.
2. Pour 1/4 cup red wine into sauce pan. Bring to simmer. Cook for 5-6 minutes, until liquid has reduced by about half. Add 1/4 cup fig jam and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, and stir to incorporate. Simmer sauce, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Season chicken generously with salt. Cook the chicken: heat remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium heat. When butter is sizzling, place chicken in pan. Cook on one side, without moving, for 5-6 minutes, or until chicken easily releases from the pan (if chicken sticks, it likely needs to cook a bit longer). Spoon about half of the fig sauce over the cooked side of the chicken, and continue to cook on the second side for 5 more minutes, or until and internal temperature of chicken reaches 165°F. Spoon remaining fig sauce over chicken, and top each piece with a slice of provolone. Place lid on pan, and cook for 1-2 more minutes, until cheese is melted.
4. Transfer to serving plates, and season to taste with freshly cracked black pepper.
5. Note: You can also grill the chicken if that’s more your style. The cheese will melt very quickly if you go this route, so watch closely.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Cranberries, Walnuts, and Goat Cheese

You know that feeling the week after the holiday season, or a vacation, when you just want a bowl full of veggies, because you haven’t had enough recently? Because I do! And salads like this are the answer. A bowl full of greens, but also sustenance — sweet potatoes, walnuts and goat cheese!

This salad is one even veg-haters will like (said it already, but: potatoes, cheese, nuts… I mean is it even a salad? You don’t have to tell them there’s — ehem - kale under all those potatoes). The whole thing is drizzled with an apple cider vinaigrette which has shallots and dijon mustard and even a little bit of honey, for just the right balance of sweet and acid. It’s a pretty classic vinaigrette and one that you can use on just about any kind of salad or with any veggie (not just this salad!).

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Cranberries, Walnuts, and Goat Cheese

Published January 8, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 50 minutes

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Ingredients:

2 medium sized sweet potatoes, roughly diced

1 tablespoon oil, such as avocado

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

6 cups kale, stems removed and torn into bite-sized pieces

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup walnut pieces, toasted

1/4 cup goat cheese crumbles

For the vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 teaspoon honey

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/16 teaspoon salt

1/16 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Roast sweet potatoes: Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss potatoes in 1 tablespoon oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer on a sheet pan. Roast in oven for 40-45 minutes, until sweet potatoes are soften all the way through and crisping on the edges. Set aside to cool.
2. Prep the kale: place torn kale pieces in a salad bowl. Drizzle with lemon juice. Using your hands, massage the kale with the lemon juice until the kale is bright green (Why do this? It makes is softer, easier to digest, and nicer to eat).
3. Top kale with sweet potatoes, cranberries, walnut pieces, and goat cheese crumbles.
4. Make vinaigrette: combine all ingredients for vinaigrette in a jar and shake to combine. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad, and serve.

White Wine Cream Sauce Chicken & Thyme

In France we saw endless fields of lavender, ornately designed royal gardens, and vending machines stocked by local farmers with the crop of the day. In France, we missed lunch almost every afternoon because in Bourgueil, shops close up after 2 and if you're just strolling into town for a bite to eat, you're fresh out of luck. 

We saw at least one Château a day, traveled almost exclusively by bike, and learned that a map really does you no good when roads have no signs or names. It flooded, and we drank plenty of wine.

In France, we cooked coq au vin in our little apartment, when all of the restaurants were closed. We tried to eat like the French, even when we couldn't figure out their schedule! 

It's almost impossible to tell which parts of this dish are inspired by French cooking and which are just habits learned from my mom. This coq au vin-inspired dish has home cooking written all over it:

• It starts with shallots: French shallots are French, aren't they?! Despite the fact that my mom virtually always has a shallot or two laying around, cooking with them always just feels a bit fancier to me than cooking with onions

• After you sauté the shallots, pour on the wine (in this case, white). It sizzles and pops, and in true chef fashion you should probably take a sip or two from the bottle between stirs. Get a French wine if you want to feel extra French

• Stir in the cream, and watch the sauce go from brothy to rich and creamy. Many a person has added cream to sauce... but is it very French? Maybe, or maybe not. But who cares! It's cream! And it tastes amazing. Just do it.

• Finish with thyme, fresh and herbaceous. Any even if your thyme wasn't grown in France, you can pretend it was. Top off you glass of wine before you sit down to eat.

White Wine Cream Sauce Chicken & Thyme

Published October 12, 2017 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 35 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 pound chicken breast 
• 1 shallot
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (for dairy-free, try canned full-fat coconut milk)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 springs fresh thyme
• Optional: 1 cup fresh baby spinach

Directions:

1. Heat coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. When the oil is hot, add the chicken breasts to the pan, and brown on each side until golden (about 5 minutes each side). Move chicken to a plate and set aside.
3. Dice the shallot, and add to the pan. Sauté until soft. Add the garlic. Sauté for another minute. Pour wine into pan, and scrape bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula to deglaze.
4. Pour cream into pan, and stir gently until incorporated. Add spinach, and stir in until wilted.
5. Place chicken back in pan. Bring sauce to a slow simmer (if you turn it too hot, the cream may curdle). Add salt & black pepper, and leaves from 2 springs of thyme. Allow to simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Garnish with thyme leaves from remaining sprig of thyme, and serve hot.