Who you calling Chicken??

2 tbsp olive oil
half cup chopped onion
1 apple, sliced into small bits
3/4 cup apple cider
4 ounces brie, no rind
Chicken breasts, boneless skin on
salt and pepper
1 tsp thyme
Bacon strips
toothpicks
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour

So this actually goes back to my second time cooking. This was the one that made me think "hrmm...maybe I can actually cook here!" It was a pretty ambitious project for a guy who had cooked one steak and a whole bunch of ichiban's previously. It was back in May, and Ruth and I were having a date. I scoured the web for romantic recipes, and I knew that I couldn't go beef again. I know that Ruth quite likes chicken, even if it's not my personal favorite (i'm a prairie boy...it's all about the beef for me!).

I came across an interesting sounding recipe at About.com's southern food section here. Chicken, yes, apples, yum, brie cheese, ooooo super yum! So I decided to play with that a bit. I basically made the apple and brie concoction as the recipe said and then altered a bit after that. I toodled off to the store and picked up all the ingredients. I had to ask the butcher at the local save on to remove the bone from the chicken breasts and leave the skin on, and he happily did so. I quite like Save On foods as a grocery store; their selection is great and the pricing is great and they're all quite helpful, specially to a newbie like me.

Anyways I got home, and I started by heating the oil in a non stick pan. I actually used a sauce pan, even tho the recipe called for a skillet. I dumped in the onion and cooked it til it was tender, about 7 or 8 minutes. I then added the apples, about a third of the cider, some salt, some pepper and thyme, and it took about 5 minutes till that was tender (well the apples; the other stuff didn't need to get tender). I let that cool a bit and then dumped in the chopped up brie. I stirred that all together til it was a nice sexy paste and then pulled the chicken out of the fridge.

I put the oven at 400 degrees to preheat it while I prepared the chicken. First I popped the skin up with my fingers, and ran my fingers back until the skinn was all loose but still attached on the one side. I took a butter knife and applied the apple/brie concoction under the skin, and then used my fingers to make it all even and sexy looking. By this point I was drooling, let me tell you. I LOVE brie cheese. Anyways. After I had the chicken stuffed, I placed down 6 strips of bacon (3 for each breast). I spread a bit more of the cheese and apple stuff on them, then placed the chicken on and rolled it up. I used toothpicks to attach the bacon, then threw both breasts into a baking dish. I added a bit more salt and pepper, then tossed the dish into the oven for about 50 minutes. I don't have a thermometer, and since it was chicken I erred on the side of caution for cooking time; you basically want it to be 180 degrees inside the meat when it's done. The recipe had said 35-45 minutes, and since I had the bacon wrapped, I added a bit more.

I pulled the pan out of the oven (and oh my gosh did it smell good!) and proceeded skim the fat into another sauce pan. I added the rest of the cider, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper and the remainder of the thyme, and cooked until it reduced by half. My first reduction!!! I spooned the sauce over the chicken, and served with some roasted potatoes and a "California" pre packaged salad I had picked up at Save On. It was an utter success! Ruth still talks about that chicken and I will definitely experiment with that one again. It's not very often that I eat chicken and go "oh my gosh that was good chicken" but I did with this one. The Brie and the apple have such nice flavours and they accent the chicken's natural flavour very nicely. The bacon added a bit of flavour that mixed in well, plus made it all nice and juicy. I'm sure this one wasn't the most fat conscious meal ever, but man was it good!