Cooking with Fruit: blueberries

This week I am cooking with fruit. Citrus is the obvious choice, of course - but I am trying to think a bit out of the box. Tonight's chicken recipe was inspired by a drink I had this past weekend...an antioxidant martini. (As I explained to the liquor store clerk, alcohol may be bad for you - but the add-ins negate all of that, making it healthy. I'm pretty sure he already thought I was drunk.) Hang in there, the martini recipe will follow...

BLUEBERRY CHICKEN

1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup pomegranate juice, such as POM juice
1/2 cup blueberry preserves
salt and pepper, to taste
fresh blueberries
Chicken of your choice, cooked how you like it*

To make blueberry sauce, bring chicken stock, POM juice and blueberry preserves to a boil and reduce to about 1/4 cup. Add fresh blueberries and heat until warmed through. Spoon over chicken.

*I started my chicken on the stove top in an oven-safe skillet. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and sear both sides. Finish chicken in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices are clear. You can also bake, grill or pan fry boneless skinless chicken breasts, bone-in thighs or drumsticks - your imagination is a good thing!


I served the chicken with some roasted purple cauliflower (Nathan thought I dyed it myself!) and baby carrots. So colorful! And purple!

Everybody's had raspberry chicken...blueberry is a nice spin. And now, for the perfect liquid accompaniment:

ANTIOXIDANT MARTINI

For the blueberry puree: 1 cup blueberries, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup fine sugar all blended together.

For the drink: 1 oz Stoli blueberry vodka, 2 oz POM juice, 1 oz triple sec, 1/2 oz freshly squeezed orange juice, 1/2 oz prepared blueberry puree. Shake all ingredients with ice. Garnish with orange peel.

Now normally, I would post a picture...however, after one of these (...OK, OK - it was 3) picture taking was not a high priority. Tee-hee.