Apricot Chicken with Almonds (p. 396)

Meez:

You'll need about 1/3 cup almond slices. You also need apricot jam, soy sauce, some wholegrain mustard, salt, pepper, and butter for the sauce. Also some chicken breasts.


Procedure:
Toast your almond slices in the oven until golden brown.

 Toasted almond slices

If you can smell them, you've probably toasted too much. Salt and pepper both sides of your chicken breasts. Lube up a baking dish and place the breasts in. I seasoned one side and laid it season-side down and then seasoned the other side. Put it in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, make up your sauce. Put the apricot jam, soy sauce, mustard, salt, pepper, and butter in a small pan and heat it until the jam melts. After your breasts have baked for 10, take them out and pour the sauce over each of them. Try to evenly distribute the sauce over all the pieces. Put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. After that time is up, you'll broil it for about 3 minutes, basting the breasts with the sauce once. I went about a minute and a half, basted, and wend another minute and a half. Pull it out of the oven and top with the toasted almond slices.

Finished

So, how was it?
I'm not a huge fan of chicken breasts because they tend to overcook but these turned out great. The sauce really contributes to the flavor and the almonds add a great crunch.

What did you learn?

I wouldn't have thought up this combination myself, but it's a winner.

Recommend it?
Indeed. It's relatively fast and the prep is minimal.