From the Home Kitchen: Pineapple and Apricot Chicken

It has been a while since I did a “From the Home Kitchen,” Touring or otherwise. I’ve not been cooking a lot from home lately. Once my son grew up, moved out, and got a job in the food business, my inspiration has been lacking. That’s not fair to my wife and life partner. I need to do better. This past week, I was looking through some recipes and found something that piqued my interest, so I made my shopping list, and the lovely Stephanie picked things up for me. In return, I made her a delicious meal. Not the most ambitious thing I’ve done, but it was really flavorful. The sweetness from the pureed fruit mixed with the oniony-peppery-gingery notes made the sweet peppers even better.

Now, I am going to be 100% transparent and tell you that I modified another recipe to make it my own. I am not sure who the original author of the recipe is, so I can’t give credit, just know I’m not claiming the recipe as a whole as my own, but this is my take on it. As a base, I think pasta noodles, jasmine rice, or couscous would go fantastically. I opted for the couscous, and it was very yummy. (And yes, I know that couscous is a type of pasta)

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 45 mins
Servings: 4 (or in our case, 3)
Ingredient list:
  • 4 halves of canned apricots (or 2 whole if you can find fresh)
  • 1 (8-ounce) can of crushed pineapple with juice
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
  • ½ cup Captain Morgan’s™ Original Spiced Rum
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 pinch ground white pepper
  • salt to taste
  • 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped

Directions:

  1. Place the pineapple and its juice and the apricots into a blender or food processor, and puree until smooth.

  2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place the chicken into the skillet, and sprinkle with lemon juice. Cook until lightly browned on both sides, about 10 minutes.

  3. Stir the butter and orange zest into the skillet. When the butter has melted, pour in the rum. Carefully light with a striker, and let the mixture burn until the flame goes out. Stir in the blended pineapple and apricot mixture, brown sugar, onion powder, ginger, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes.

  4. Add the red and yellow bell peppers, and simmer until the peppers are hot but still crisp. Remove from heat, and serve.

If you make this recipe (or your own version of it), send me a message and let me know how it went and what you thought of it.
Bon appetit!!

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