Cranberry-Glazed Chicken, Squash Puree

Since my successful venture into butternut squash soup, I've been itching to create more meals using this wonder of the frozen food aisle. I thought about the food pairings I've seen in restaurants and had in my own life. I kept returning to the realization that one of the only times my family has squash is for Thanksgiving dinner, so I decided to pair it with an icon of America's iconic holiday: cranberry sauce.

I have read about or seen cranberry glazes on chicken, so I decided to give it a try. I purchased a can of whole cranberries sauce, which I do not ordinarily like. But since the sauce itself doesn't exactly fall into the realm of "health food", I decided that, at the very least, I could maintain some of the integrity of the berry. I also picked up chicken breasts and a bag of frozen butternut squash.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.9

I started by making my butternut squash puree. This time, I added almost no liquid because I wanted it to maintain some thickness, since it was serving as the base of my chicken. The boiled squash chunks are pretty moist, anyway, when they're pulled from the boiling liquid, so I didn't need to add more than a spoonful of the liquid when I pureed it in my blender.

Next, I prepared my glaze. I added four tablespoons of cranberry sauce, a tablespoon of water, and some lemon juice and grated lemon rind to a small saucepan. I turned the heat low and let it all cook together. Soon, it was bubbling away on the stove-- and smelling delicious!

I simply baked the chicken breasts, which I dusted with some black pepper. I placed them on cooling racks atop a cookie sheet so that any drippings stayed away from the lean breasts. I cooked the chicken at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, occasionally smearing the glaze over the chicken, a spoonful at a time. When the chicken was firm to the touch, I plated up my newest creation.

The puree was a soft, comforting accompaniment to basic baked chicken, and the tartness of the cranberry glaze provided a great contrast to the squash. If I serve this again, I will probably marinate the chicken a bit before hand and serve it sliced over the puree, for ease-of-eating. But the flavors balanced exactly the way I was hoping. In the future, when you think about a particular ingredient or flavor you want to use in a dish but aren't sure how to pair it, think about your own food experiences. Have you seen this ingredient on a menu? On a friend's dinner table? In a recipe book? Then, spin the flavors your way, and enjoy with fork in hand.