Sauteed Chicken with Pears

I have been obsessed with pears recently. I've been adding them to my oatmeal, eating them raw and cooking them into my dinner dishes. It might be because pears are in season in the winter and all other fruits have just about zero flavor right now. I don't know why I buy strawberries in the winter, it's really a lost cause.

Pears however are delicious right now! I went with Anjou pears in this dish because they caramelize really well and hold their texture a bit better than Bartlett pears.

If you have everything chopped and ready to go, this dinner comes together very quickly. Brown the chicken, brown the pears, make the sauce. It's the perfect meal to make after a long day at work.

One Year Ago: Chocolate Heart Cookies
Two Years Ago: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Yogurt Popsicles
Three Years Ago: Dutch Cheese Pancakes
Four Years Ago: Cranberry-Walnut Celebration Bread

Sauteed Chicken with Pears

A Wilde Original

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 Anjou pears, peeled, cored and cut into 16 wedges
3 small shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh sage
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Place chicken in a bowl, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and toss to coat. Season with kosher salt and pepper.  Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to the pan and saute until browned on both sides and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side (or less, if your chicken is thinner than 1 inch). Transfer chicken to a plate and wrap with foil to keep warm.

Set another skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add pear wedges and saute until golden, turn once and cook until softened.

While the pears are sauteing, come back to the first skillet and reduce heat to medium. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan and add shallots and sage.  Saute for 2 minutes, until shallots are softened. Add sherry vinegar and white wine. Stir shallots and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Let bubble and reduce for about 3 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together chicken stock, dijon mustard and cornstarch. Add to the skillet and whisk until everything is combined. Cook until bubbly, about 2 minutes. Whisk in cream and remove from the heat.

Slice chicken on a diagonal, add pears and spoon sauce over the top. Enjoy with these root vegetables!

Football Party Foods!

Personally, I'm not heading to a Superbowl party this year. I think the last one I attended was in 2007, living in Wisconsin as a graduate student. I'm not really a fan of the football, but it might not surprise you that I enjoy the food!

Looking for something delicious to make or bring to a party on Sunday? Here are some of my favorites...

1. Biscofferoos 2. White Chicken Chili 3. Soft Pretzels

4. Salsa 5. Buffalo Wing Sauce 6. Cranberry-Pomegranate Soda

7. Cheese in a Can! 8. Personal Banana Pudding 9. Buffalo Chicken Pizza

What do you like to chow down on at a Super Bowl party? Do you need dessert? Is it all about the chips and dips? Are adult beverages a necessity? Tell me your plans!

J@H 2015 - Cheese Whiz

It's Superbowl Time! (Do I have to put the "TM" after the word "Superbowl"? Will the NFL sue me if I don't? Anyways...) It's time for the big game and my Junk food at Home challenge was perfectly timed! You might think that I put this recipe in the challenge line-up on purpose. Nope, I had no idea when the "Big Game" was when I scheduled the challenges.

This challenge took a bit of tinkering before I came out with this final recipe. The first batch I made was a cheese sauce, simply milk and cheese. The sauce separated promptly upon being taken off the fire.

Batch two was slightly more successful. I used the same recipe that I have written below, but I allowed it to cool to room temperature before pouring into the whipper. The sauce solidified upon cooling to room temperature. There was no pouring happening with that batch. It's currently in my fridge, I think I'll try it out as a cheese spread...

The third and final batch is the one you see in this post! The cheese sauce is poured into the whipper immediately after the cheese is melted. The cheese is charged with N2O and is ready to go. I don't think that I have the industrial capacity to exactly replicate the density of Cheese Whiz. My cheese is more of a cheese foam. These first few images are of the still-warm cheese foam.

Once the whipping siphon is cool to the touch, it pipes out cheese foam like the stuff below.

The cooled cheese foam holds its shape a lot better than the warm stuff. I would recommend making this stuff just before your friends arrive. You can't put this in the fridge, as the cheese sauce would solidify in the fridge. Enjoy the entire thing of cheese in one sitting, but be sure to share with your friends. It wouldn't be very good for you to eat it all yourself!

One Year Ago: Loganberry Mallomars
Two Years Ago: Fudgy Waffles
Three Years Ago: Raw Salad & Wagamama Dressing
Four Years Ago: Chocolate and Peanut Butter Mousse Entremet