My brother-in-law and sister-in-law sometimes order meal packages from a place called Home Chef. It is basically a site where you can choose full meals from the weekly selection and they will package it all up in a box with some ice packs and ship it off to you. They give you all the ingredients and a large recipe card with all of the instructions. A couple weeks ago he was out of town for work, and she was sick, so they sent the box they had already ordered over to us.
The first recipe we tried was the Garlic-Thyme Roasted Chicken with Green Beans and Apples. Like anyone else, my wife Traci and I don't like certain things, so we left them out of the meal. The things we left out were the thyme and the shallots.
What Came in the Box
- 13 oz. Boneless Chicken Breast
- 2 tsp Chicken Demi-Glace
- 8 oz. Green Beans
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 4 fl. oz. Light Cream
- 3 Thyme sprigs
- 1 Shallot
- 1 Fuji Apple
Since that first time I think we have had it about six more times. Each time I adjusted things a little bit to get it perfect for us. Tweaking things to personalize it for your own tastes will be pretty simple. It is a somewhat quick meal to put together as well. The recipe card says 30-40 minutes, actual cooking time is around 25 minutes. One of the best things about this meal is that it can all be done in one pan and on one cookie sheet, so clean up is very easy.
What I Use
- 1 - 1.5 lbs Boneless Chicken Breast
- 2 tsp Better Than Bouillon (Beef or Chicken)
- 8 - 12 oz. Organic Green Beans
- 2 Garlic Cloves equivalent in Minced Garlic
- 6 fl. oz. Heavy Cream
- 1 Fuji Apple
- 1 Gala Apple
We use the extra chicken so that there is a third breast for my wife's lunch the following day.
You're not going to find demi-glace at your local Wal*Mart. We use Better Than Bouillon as a good substitute. When we first went to buy ingredients to make this the second time they only had the beef flavor, so we went with that. Since then we have also tried it with the chicken flavor, and honestly, it is better with the beef. You do need to be careful with how much of the Better Than Bouillon you add. It is very salty. It may take a time or two of making this for you to adjust to the right level for your own tastes. The beef is saltier than the chicken.
You can also get a small jar of minced garlic which makes preparation easier, and it will keep in the refrigerator for a good amount of time.
We accidentally got the heavy cream and Gala apple the first time. It was supposed to be light cream, and a Fuji apple. We liked it with the new additions, so we stuck with them. I will say the Fuji apple does give it a better flavor profile though.
We usually use grape seed oil instead of olive oil. The recipe calls for olive oil so feel free to switch out to your preference. We prefer it because it has a higher heat point, and it is actually a bit cheaper as well. It also tends to add a bit of a nutty flavor at times, which my wife prefers over the normal flavor of olive oil.
Preparing the Ingredients
Trim the ends of the green beans. Cut into approximately 1" pieces.
Use an apple wedger to wedge and core the apples. Cut wedges into thirds, or quarters if you prefer smaller chunks.
If using garlic cloves, mince garlic.
If using the shallot - Peel and halve it. Then slice halves into think strips.
If using thyme - Stem and mince thyme.
Cooking Process
Using a large non-stick pan over a medium-high heat, add about 2 tsp. grape seed oil. Once oil is heated add the green beans and apples. If using shallots add them now as well. Stir occasionally until lightly charred - approximately 7-9 minutes.
While that is in the pan -
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Pat your chicken dry and add salt and pepper to taste on both sides. About 1/4 tsp. salt and a pinch of pepper should be good. My wife prefers seasoned salt and no pepper, so that is what I use on hers. Then cover your cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
Remove the green beans and apples (and shallots) from the pan and place them on one half of the covered cookie sheet. Lightly salt them. Set the cookie sheet aside.
Add about another 1 tsp. of grape seed oil to the pan. Once heated place your chicken breast pieces in the pan. Leave the chicken untouched until browned, about 4-5 minutes. Your chicken should have a good seared color on the one side. Transfer the chicken with seared side up, onto the empty half of your cookie sheet.
Place the cookie sheet in the hot oven for 10-12 minutes. The green beans and apples should be tender. Your chicken needs to reach an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees.
Making the Sauce
When the chicken, green beans, and apples have about 5-6 minutes remaining, return the pan used to sear the chicken to medium heat.
Add 1 tsp. grape seed oil. Once heated add in minced garlic (and thyme if you are using it). Cook until it becomes aromatic, approximately 45-60 seconds.
Add in the cream and Better Than Bouillon and stir (whisk) constantly until slightly thickened, approximately 1-2 minutes.
Alternative
To make them I use a similar process that is used for the green beans and apples with a few changes. First chop the potatoes into quarters or sixths depending on their size. I melted about 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan for these to enhance their already natural butter flavor. Heat about 1 - 2 tsp. of the minced garlic for about a minute and then add in the potatoes. While stirring occasionally let them brown and char a bit. I cook them for about 7 minutes. Once done put them on a foil covered cookie sheet and cook in the 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. This can all be done within the above process. You will just need to use a second pan and cookie sheet.
The Finished Meals
Here are some photos of the finished plates. First we have my wife's version with the green beans and apples.
Then we have some photos of my plate with the potatoes and some of the apples. Please excuse my sad attempt at some "artistic" shots.
In case it isn't clear by how many times we have eaten this in the past couple weeks - we LOVE this meal. It tastes great with all of the different flavors coming together perfectly. It is also very filling, and much healthier than a lot of the stuff we eat. Overall it also doesn't cost too much for all of the ingredients.
The sauce is very flexible to use with other meals as well. One of our guilty pleasure / not-so-healthy things to eat is a simple box of Kraft Mac & Cheese, a package of Hormel Pot Roast, and a package of brown gravy mix. Make all the components and put it in a bowl together. The last time we made that we realized as the mac & cheese was cooking, and the pot roast was heating in the microwave that we didn't have a package of brown gravy mix. I whipped up a quick pan of this sauce using the beef flavor Better Than Bouillon. It elevated the taste of the whole thing so much! I am pretty sure we won't be buying any more of the brown gravy mix packets. It's great because we also know exactly what is in this sauce, and no longer have to worry about all the extra stuff they put in the brown gravy mix packets.
Let me know what you think in the comments. If you try this meal out come back and let me know if you liked it, or if you made any of your own interesting adjustments.
This is such an amazingly nice presentation of a meal, ranwan. You've always put 100% in everything that you do, that is a very nice quality :).
I am not one of those people who takes photos of their food everyday for Instagram. lol My food pics need some work. I used to be better with them, but the lighting in this house sucks for photos and I didn't take enough time to make them perfect as I wanted to still eat while it was hot. Really is delicious though.
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