Here’s a recipe from NMC’s Sous Chef, Jonathan Newhard. It is a popular dish often served in NMC’s Courtyard Cafe and Jon shares some insight into how his team sources and prepares the dish. 

 

As fall is starting to peek around the corner, here is a great recipe from our cafeteria menu for the season. Bacon and apple cider blend well to create this easy, autumnal dish.

Ingredients

• 1 quart fresh apple cider (use your favorite brand, we love cider from Sunrise Orchards in Cornwall, VT, which happens to be right where I came from when I moved to Franklin county)!
• 1/2 pound good bacon (we use North Country Smokehouse from NH) cut into small pieces.
• 4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. One per person.

Directions

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Next, heat a large, non-reactive frying pan on the stove with 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil until the oil just begins to smoke.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot, sear the chicken on both sides until it develops a deep brown crust.

Place the chicken in a baking dish and finish cooking in the oven until a thermometer in the thickest part reads 165 degrees, probably 30-40 minutes, depending on the thickness of the breasts.

While the chicken is cooking in the oven, add the cut bacon into the frying pan and render until crispy. Use your spoon to scrape up any brown bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan – that’s great flavor!

Once the bacon is crisp, spoon off any excess fat. You can let this cool and discard it or, save it and use it for frying your eggs the next morning.

Pour in the apple cider and bring to a boil. Boil it until the volume reduces by 1/2.

Take the chicken out of the oven when it’s ready and add it into the bacon, cider mixture.

Simmer for 5 minutes and you are ready to serve.

This is a great meal to serve with rice or simple fried potatoes and a nice hearty vegetable on the side. I’d recommend roasted winter squash or brussels sprouts. It’s always a popular choice here at NMC and we hope it will be with your family too!