Foil-Baked Chicken With Red Anjou Pear

EXCITING NEWS
Evelyn and I are excited to announce that we will be moving our blog to
www.sweethomechefs.com
sometime this week.

Surely this calls for a celebration. That I did with a baked chicken dinner that my loving husband described as 'bursting with flavour!'. I was tickled by his enthusiasm and was so pleased with the remark that I stored the moment in my mind under the Happy Memories folder.

Foil-Baked Red Anjou Pear Chicken

It started with a trip to a fruit store in Sri Petaling. There, I picked up some Red Anjou pears that quickly became my new love and for good reason. They were ruby red. That's a good enough reason for me, at least!

The pears are juicy and has a less gritty texture than the ones I'm used to; it has a well-rounded sweetness that I cannot accurately describe. All I can say is that it's pleasant to eat - this, in the 'very' sense.

I decided to go with a foil-baked recipe to trap the juices in. You would too, if you like a bit of gravy for the white rice you're pairing it with. It turned out to be a flavourful dish, further enhanced with the addition red dates and ginger honey. The chicken was moist and tender.

Here's how I made this.

Foil-Baked Chicken With Red Anjou Pear
Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 tbsp Culpeper ginger honey
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 red anjou pear (cut into chunks)
- 3 dried Shiitake mushrooms (rehydrated - do this earlier, remove stem and cut into halves)
- 10 dried red dates (make a small cut)
- 1 thumb ginger (smashed)
- Black pepper

How-to:
1) In a deep bowl, rub chicken with ginger honey and oyster sauce. Keep aside. Prepare the rest of the ingredients (cutting pear, etc.).
2)  Pre-heat oven at 175C.
3) Line a deep baking tray with foil.
4) Place chicken on foiled tray. Fill the cavity with smashed ginger, a couple of red dates and pear pieces.
5) Place the remainder of the ingredients (mushroom, pear and dates) around the chicken.
6) Use the marinade left in the bowl to make the gravy. Pour ½cup (more or less) water into the same bowl to dilute the marinade.Pour this around the chicken on the foiled tray.
7) Season with several dashes of black pepper over the chicken.
8) Finally, cover the chicken loosely over the top with foil, and seal the sides. Let it steam-bake until cooked.

This took me about 1½ hours at 175C, and it was left to rest for a further 30 minutes before I finally took the foil off. Baking times will vary depending on the size of the chicken.

Best eaten with rice or as is.

1) Sprinkled with black pepper, it's ready for the oven.
2) Rub the chicken with ginger honey sauce and oyster sauce.
3) Leave aside. Prepare the rest of the ingredients.
4) Place the chicken on a foil-lined baking tray.
5) Cover with foil and bake.

Fresh out of the oven - Baked Chicken With Anjou Pear!

Nom nom with rice!

Baked Chicken with Red Anjou Pear and Shiitake Mushrooms