Fall is the season of change and as I reflect back on past recipes, I see I am a creature of habit including apples in my fall dishes.  The crispness of the air combined with the fresh and changing apples ripening is too much for me to ignore.  Enjoy!

Brie

Ingredients

  • 1 large farm raised organic whole chicken
  • 2 sliced shallots
  • 2 cups of your favorite apple cider
  • 1 cup of strong chicken stock
  • 1 cup of heavy cream
  • 2 season apples of choice
  • 2 tsp. sugar
  • Butter
  • Salt and white pepper
  • Dash or more (to taste) of a great French Calvados (liqueur) from Normandy

Directions:

Cut chicken in small pieces.  Trim the extra fat and bones, lightly flour.  Saute in butter until light brown then add shallots until they become translucent.  Add cider, stock, salt and pepper.  Cover and cook slowly (low simmer) for about 40 minutes.

While cooking, peel the apples and cut into quarters, removing core and seeds.  Saute in butter and sugar until tender; reserve for later.

Check that chicken is cooked completely and tender.  Remove from pan and set aside. Reduce heat in chicken pan, add the juice from the apple saute’ and simmer to concentrate the flavours.  Then add cream and reduce again until you have the perfect consistency.  Add Calvados and S&p.

Place chicken and apple pieces back into pan to warm and serve immediately.

I prefer a great mashed potatoe to accompany this dish.

Bon appetit!