4 chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 onion, sliced thin
1 lb asparagus, washed and trimmed
3 pears, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
3 Tbs apple juice
1 tea dried rosemary
1 Tbs fresh grated ginger
2 Tbs dark brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Line the bottom of the Crock Pot with the chicken strips. Layer the thinly sliced onions over the chicken. Salt and pepper. Place asparagus and pears next. Whisk together vinegar, juice, rosemary, ginger and brown sugar. Pour over pot. Salt and pepper again. Cook on LOW about 6 hours.
In honor of National Asparagus Day, I thought I would make a dish with this ingredient. (OK, so I didn't really know it was National Asparagus Day. I stumbled upon the recipe on Allrecipes.com, bought the ingredients and just happened to hear the strange coincidence on the radio the next morning!) I have never used fresh ginger before and it is now my new favorite root! When it came time to prepare the ginger, I was kind of at a loss of what to do. I "gingerly" cut the peel off and then stuck a chunk in my garlic mincer. This worked perfectly. Not sure if that is how most people prepare ginger, but it worked for me! The chicken itself wasn't bad. Wasn't great, but it tasted good. I was expecting more of a vinegar taste to it. I also think the rosemary became a bit overpowering; maybe use less or leave it out. This might be a recipe that is better in the oven than in the Crock Pot, as this recipe came out a little soggy. A bit disappointing really.
I served this dinner with mushroom orzo. This was a delicious recipe and a nice pair to the main dish. I left out the cheese and parsley. I also substituted the pearl onions for regular chopped onions. Yummy! (Could probably be served by itself as a meal!) In fact, I went back for seconds!
An easy way to grate your fresh ginger is with a microplane-if you don't own one make it your next kitchen tool purchase, it will be one of you favorite things, I promise!
ReplyDeleteMaybe add some white wine and additional salt and pepper about an hour out? Fruit in these things, while adding flavor to the dish, tends to lose all it's own taste and go bland.
Good effort, tho! Oh, and wanted to tell you I saw a cooking magazine on the check-out rack at Sprouts a couple days ago that says something like 'summer crockpot recipes'-sounds like something you better check out! :)