Cranberry Baked Chicken. Cranberry chicken thighs. Its what you make when you are surprised with a package of bone-in skin-on chicken thighs.
The other day when Mitzie wasn't feeling well, I sent my husband to the store to buy some chicken breasts so that I could poach some for when she started to feel better.
I shoulda known better . . . he is not the best shopper.
He came home with the cheapest chicken thighs ever . . . bone in, skin on, the value pack.
Not what I would normally buy even for us to eat, but certainly much too rich for a poorly dog to eat.
Never mind . . . at least he brought home chicken. I am sure it could have been much worse.
I recognize that it could always have been much worse, and it sometimes has been.
In marriage as well as life, you need to learn to pick your battles and when to bite your tongue. 😉
I bit my tongue . . . . and then went to the shops myself a bit later on and picked up some chicken breasts.
I didn't want to waste the chicken he had bought however, even if it wasn't what I normally would have purchased.
So I decided to bake them with a sauce.
I picked a recipe for a cranberry chicken from the Taste of Home, the Complete Guide to Country Cooking cookbook . . . it looked tasty . . .
And then I proceeded to start making another recipe from the book for oven BBQ chicken. DUH!
I hate it when that happens. SO I did what any good cook would do. I cobbled the two recipes together and came up with this!
Tender juicy, finger licking tasty, saucy chicken . . .
The original recipe (s) had called for browning the chicken in oil first. I decided to cut out that step and the extra calories all together . . . totally un-necessary.
I oven browned it at a high temperature without using any fat. Worked perfectly.
Once it was browned I poured my cobbled together sauce over top and baked it until the chicken was tender and the sauce had reduced to a lovely thick glaze/sauce.
I served it with baked potatoes, peas and carrots.
Cranberry Baked Chicken
Yield: 6
Oven baked Chicken with a sweet and tangy finger-licking delicious sauce.
ingredients:
- 3 - 4 pounds skin on/bone in chicken pieces
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 TBS butter
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 185g tomato ketchup (3/4 cup)
- 120ml water (1/2 cup)
- 80ml cider vinegar (1/3 cup)
- 3 TBS soft dark brown sugar
- 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp prepared mustard
- 115g whole berry cranberry sauce (1/2 cup)
instructions:
How to cook Cranberry Baked Chicken
- Preheat the oven to 230*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Place the chicken pieces in a single layer in a dish large enough to hold them in a single layer. Season generously with salt and black pepper. Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes while you make the sauce.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the onion. Cook until softened, stirring frequently, without browning. Whisk in the ketchup, water, vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and cranberry sauce. Bring to the boil, whisking well to combine. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.
- Reduce the oven temperature t 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Pour the cranberry sauce over the top of and around the chicken in the dish. Return to the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, basting frequently with the sauce.
- Serve the chicken hot with some of the sauce spooned over top.
I should have called this Cranberry Yum Yum Chicken, because that is what it was . . . most delicious! A happy accident to say the least!
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When the children were growing up, during the time we lived in New Brunswick, we often drove across the border into Houlton Maine where we would go shopping. This was really exciting for me because they had a Wal Mart there and Wal Mart hadn't yet made its way into Canada. I have always loved grocery shopping in the US.
We would leave our home early in the morning and not get back home until the evening. This meant that we also used to go to the Elmwood Diner in Houlton for a hearty lunch. This diner was exactly what you would expect for a small town diner. The walls were covered with their dining specials handwritten out on paper place-mats. The place was always super busy and the food was always super good. I don't think it is in operation any longer, sadly.
Every time we went my ex husband would order their Turkey Club Platter, which involved a turkey club sandwich, fries and coleslaw. I think you could get any kind of potato you wanted with it actually. He always wanted the fries.
I used to get either fish and chips, or a roast turkey dinner. Those are my two favourite things when dining out, and nobody does them better than diners do.
I decided to recreate that dining experience today for Todd. He has been working really hard in the garden and I thought he would enjoy the treat.
I don't know many people who wouldn't enjoy a club sandwich . . . its like a double decker sandwich on 3 slices of mayo spread toasted bread . . .
with layers of sliced cooked turkey, sliced ripe tomatoes, cheese . . .
lettuce, crisp streaky bacon, sliced ham and more cheese . . .
I even made some coleslaw to go with it, only today I made a vinaigrette coleslaw. That way the leftovers could be kept easily in the refrigerator, and I thought there was enough mayo in the meal with just the sandwich.
A coleslaw vinaigrette makes a nice change every now and again. I will confess I am not fond of the coleslaw over here in the UK. Its too gloopy and overloaded with mayo. They don't do it well in my opinion. There is such a thing as TOO much of a good thing, and they way over do the dressing.
Speaking of overdoing it . . . boy can you tell we are senior citizens now . . . one sandwich would have fed the two of us amply . . .
Neither of us could get through a whole thing. The most we managed was half a sandwich each and we never touched the pan fries. (Not to worry, I have an idea for those for tomorrow, watch this space.)
In any case this little taste of home put a smile on my face today and pleased Todd to no end!
Turkey Club Sandwich
Yield: 2
A favourite Diner restaurant special. Served with home fries and a coleslaw on the side, it always goes down a real treat!
ingredients:
- 6 slices of sandwich bread, toasted
- 4 TBS real mayonnaise
- 4 ounces sliced deli turkey
- 4 ounces sliced deli ham
- 4 slices Jarlsberg cheese or your favourite cheese
- 6 slices cooked streaky bacon
- 2 tomatoes thinly sliced
- shredded lettuce
For the coleslaw vinaigrette
- 1/4 head of white cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 medium carrots, peeled
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 tsp grainy Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp celery salt
- 1 TBS fine white sugar
- 80 ml apple cider vinegar
- 1 TBS vegetable oil
- 1/4 tsp celery salt
- 1 tsp dry parsley flakes
- freshly ground black pepper
instructions:
How to cook Turkey Club Sandwich
- First make the coleslaw. Combine all of the vegetables in a bowl. Whisk together the vinegar, oil, sugar, mustard and seasonings. Heat in the microwave on high for about 30 seconds. Whisk to melt the sugar. Pour over the vegetables in the bowl and toss together. Set aside to macerate while you make the sandwiches.
- Arrange two slices of the toasted bread on a cutting board. Spread with some of the mayonnaise. Top each with 1/2 of the sliced turkey and 4 slices of tomato. (You can season the tomato with salt and pepper if you wish.) Top each with another slice of toast, which you have spread with some of the mayonnaise on both sides. Divide the shredded lettuce between the two and top each with 3 slices of streaky bacon. Divide the ham between the two and then top with a final slice of cheese. Spread one side of the remaining toast with the remainder of the mayonnaise and place mayonnaise side down on top of each sandwich. Press down lightly. Cut into quarters. You may need to secure each quarter together with a tooth pick.
- Place sandwiches onto each of two dinner platters/plates. Serve with a side of the coleslaw and some pan fried potatoes if you wish. (Potato chips are also very good.)
Something happens to you when you get older. You just can't eat like you used to. I can remember when it was nothing to polish off one of these and a piece of pie to boot! Not anymore, that's for sure. I leave that kind of eating to the younger generation these days!
Water Lily Pie. What's in a name. Deliciously different.
I was kind of feeling like baking something today, but was really unsure as to what it was I actually wanted to bake.
I went into my studio/office to look through my books and see if I might find something which caught my eye.
Very early on in my blogging days I made friends with a fellow blogger named Susan Bellah Dahlem. She has/had a blog called Not Quite June Cleaver.
I am pretty sure it was the June Cleaver tag which attracted me to the blog because I am a lover of anything June Cleaver-ee, June having been my ideal wife/mother when I was growing up.
Even someone who considered themselves to not be quite June was very appealing to me. Susan and I connected and somehow became friends and have remained friends to this day.
A number of years back she published this Pie cookbook. Not Quite June Cleaver Bakes a Pie. It is filled with everything to do with pie. Crusts, fillings, hints tips, family favourites, recipes with a history, tarts, resources, etc.
It caught my
eye this morning . . . I suddenly I fancied pie, and when I was ruffling through it looking for a recipe, the
Water Lily Pie really caught my interest.
It sounded simple and unusual . . . easy to execute, and I happened to have everything in the house to make it.
I bet you do too.
It really only takes a few ingredients.
Eggs. Sugar. Butter, and some flavourings (almond and vanilla). Oh yes and some cream of tartar.
It was very simple to put together. You just separate the eggs, whip sugar into both the whites and the yolks . . .
The whites get whipped into a stiff meringue with half the sugar . . . and the yolks get whipped until light, with the other half of the sugar, and then you add butter and flavourings to them.
The white meringue forms a type of crust . . . almost like a Pavlova . . .
Golden and crisp on the outside and marshmallow-like inside . . .
The yolks beaten with the flavourings and butter get poured into the centre of the whites prior to baking and they create an almost "Butter-tart" type of filling . . .
I don't know about you, but I totally adore butter tarts . . .
When it came out of the oven I wasn't quite sure if I had done everything right. I have never seen a Water Lily Pie before . . . but then I looked up water lilies and found this image and it looked kind of like the pie turned out looking like, so I figure I got it just right.
It is fabulously delicious . . . I think this is one of the nicest desserts I have baked this year.
And yes, I only meant to try one little bite . . . but after one bite, I couldn't help myself. I ate the whole piece of pie.
It really was THAT good . . . . I just kept digging my fork into it and before I knew it, the piece was gone, gone gone . . .
I had to cut another piece for Todd . . . .
and now I am thinking that this pie is far too dangerous for me to keep around for very long . . .
Too, too, too dangerous. I better invite someone over to help us eat the rest.
Water Lily Pie
Yield: makes 1 nine inch pie
A deliciously unusual pie recipe that I got from a book written by my good friend Susan Dahlem. It is maybe not the most attractive pie, but what it lacks in looks, it more than makes up for in taste! You are going to love LOVE this!
ingredients:
- 3 large free range eggs, separated
- 190g granulated sugar, separated (1 cup)
- 115g butter (1/2 cup) at room temperature
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
instructions:
How to cook Water Lily Pie
- Preheat your oven to 150*C/300*F/gas mark 2.9. Butter a 9 inch pie dish and dust lightly with flour. Set aside.
- Separate your eggs, putting the whites in one (scrupulously clean) glass bowl and the yolks in another smaller bowl. Add the cream of tartar to the whites and beat with an electric whisk until light and then continue to beat whilst adding half of the sugar (95g/1/2 cup) until very stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- Beat the butter along with both flavourings. Beat the egg yolks until light, then continue to beat whilst adding the remaining sugar. Beat in the butter mixture. Set aside.
- Spread the egg white mixture into the prepared pie dish, spreading it to cover the bottom and up the sides of the dish and leaving a bit of a hollow dip in the centre to about 1 inch of the sides all the way round. Carefully pour/spread the egg yolk mixture into this hollow area.
- Bake for 55 to 60 minutes until the crust/meringue is golden brown and the filling is set. Allow to cool completely before serving.
- Fresh fruit and berries go very well.
If you are looking for a simple and easy dessert pie that is sure to impress, don't look any further. This is the one! It might be kind of ugly, but it makes up for its looks in flavour. We enjoyed it with some sliced berries. You can buy Susan's pie book on Amazon. I highly recommend. I have never baked a recipe from it that wasn't totally delicious. I think you would like it too!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan@aol.com
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Welcome, I'm Marie
Canadian lover of all things British. I cook every day and like to share it with you!
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