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Baked Chicken with Prunes

Many people are put off by eating prunes; they feel that it is something that is purely reserved for the older generation. I once felt this way as well, that was until I began experimenting with prunes in my cooking. I found that they added a whole new dimension of flavour to whatever left that oven and was dished up onto the plate.

This recipe starts with incredibly simple baked chicken, but is enhanced by the addition of a wonderful prune sauce. I understand that not everybody will be able to “get on” with this sauce, although you should give it a try. If not then seat your delicious baked chicken without that heightened amount of flavour.

Baked Chicken With Prunes Ingredients:

1 x 3lb Chicken with giblets 1 x Bay Leaf Couple of slices of carrot Couple of slices of onion 1 x Slice of Lemon 30g Butter Salt & Pepper to Season

Sauce:

15g Butter 12 Shallots which you have already blanched and peeled 12 cooked prunes 1 x Tablespoon Sugar 1 x Tablespoon of Wine Vinegar

Baked Chicken With Prunes Directions:

1. Start by preheating your oven to 200 degrees Celsius/400 F/ Gas Mark 6.

2. Now you are going to have to give that chicken a good clean out. Wipe it inside and out with a paper towel, although of course make sure that you don’t leave any behind! In this freshly cleaned cavity you will want to put inside half of the butter, half of the onion and all of the lemon.

3. Place the chicken breast side down in a roasting pan that has been filled with enough water to cover the bottom 5ml of the chicken. Spread the remaining butter over the chicken and season well with your salt and pepper. Add the giblets (liver removed), bay leaf, rest of onion and the carrots to this water. Now begin roasting the chicken, will take around 1 hour and a quarter. You will need to turn the chicken over half way through; you will know the baked chicken is cooked when the juices run clear.

4. At the same time you will want to prepare your sauce, so grab that saucepan. In here you will want to melt your butter until you notice that it begins to be foaming. Add your shallots at this point and season well with salt and pepper.

5. Cover the pan containing the shallots and butter and turn the heat down. You will want to cook it like this for a short while. You will want to shake the pan every so often to prevent the shallots from burning. When you feel that the shallots are cooked, then you will need to turn the heat down to a minimum and add the prunes.

6. In a separate saucepan you will want to melt your sugar. You will want to manipulate the pan by turning it and tilting it so that you get that beautiful caramel colour. When you have achieved this add your vinegar. Then grab 5 tablespoons of the stock from the roasting pan and add this to the mixture. Simmer until all of the sugar has been dissolved.

7. Once your chicken has been cooked, joint it and put it on a warm dish. Pour over some of the prune sauce and complete by adding the caramel glaze.

8. This baked chicken is perfect served up with roast vegetables, and like I said at the start, if you don’t like the prune sauce then you can easily skip adding this to your dish and instead just “glaze” the chicken. Although, you should try the prune sauce for a real explosion on your taste buds.

This tasty recipe was sent to us by Sharon Hunter, from www.ovenbakedchicken.org

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