The Madison Bistro

A couple of years ago I had a restaurant dinner that was quite delicious, and the memory has stayed with me for quite some time now. All I could really remember was that there was rosemary chicken and a few cherries. Oh, and some white rice.

I decided to take what I remembered from the dish, and just start cooking.

The results were definitely different than the restaurant dish I remembered, but this new creation was still fun. And after an atrocious day, a simple creation was just what I needed. Cooking doesn’t get much easier than these steps: start rice, while rice cooks brown chicken and finish in oven, remove chicken to a plate to rest, saute cherries and make pan sauce.

Chicken with Rosemary Cherry Cream Sauce
serves 2

Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
5 oz frozen cherries
1 rosemary sprig
Kirsch or rum
1/4 c heavy cream
olive oil
salt
pepper

Serving suggestion: brown rice (if serving brown rice, start this part of the dish first)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Heat a stainless steel oven-proof frying pan over medium-high heat.

2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Drizzle frying pan with a little olive oil and brown chicken for about 2 minutes, or until you can easily flip the chicken without the meat sticking to the pan. After 1 more minute, place the pan in the oven. Check the temperature of the chicken after 10 minutes. When temperature is 160-165, remove chicken to a platter, cover with foil.

3. Return frying pan to burner over medium heat. Add about 1/3 cup or so of Kirsch to deglaze the pan. Add the cherries and saute until warmed through. Add the sprig of rosemary and cook for another minute. Lower heat to very low and add cream; stir to combine and remove rosemary. Serve cherry sauce over chicken.