CHICKEN WITH APRICOTS

Chicken with dried apricots is hardly a new idea, but I had issues with its most common interpretations. For one thing, they were almost always cloying; the routine addition of cinnamon and cloves does nothing to offset the apricots' sweetness and makes the dish taste more like dessert than dinner. For another, they were usually stewed rather than braised, turning the chicken skin sodden. I brown the chicken in a nonstick skillet with no fat, and that works well. A tablespoon or two of butter, stirred in at the end, will make the sauce richer. Or you can render some bacon, remove it, and brown the chicken in the bacon fat, then crumble the bacon and stir it in at the end of cooking. Finally, any dried fruit can be used, or a combination; with the short cooking time, even prunes will remain intact. But be aware that fruit dried with sulfur (the common method) becomes tender much faster than fruit dried organically, which needs a couple of hours of soaking before cooking.

Provided by Mark Bittman

Categories     dinner, easy, weekday, main course

Time 40m

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 6

• Ingredients

Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 613, UnsaturatedFat 22 grams, Carbohydrate 24 grams, Fat 35 grams, Fiber 3 grams, Protein 44 grams, SaturatedFat 10 grams, Sodium 777 milligrams, Sugar 19 grams, TransFat 0 grams