You all have been so patient with me over the last couple of weeks. I have finally made it through the flood of apricot jam that engulfed my kitchen. I grew up having relatives who owned an orchard in Northern Utah. They grew peaches and pears that we helped them harvest and in turn we were able to keep some. My mother would bring them home and can some of them whole, and some of them she would turn into freezer jam.
So when my father in law called up and said he had 3 trees full of ripe apricots that had to be picked THAT weekend, we took advantage. I don't have the tools to can fruit, so they all had to be made into jam. Lots and lots of jam. To be exact, I ended up with almost 60 cups of apricot jam. And I still had fruit left over. I didn't want them to go to waste. Making a main dish with chicken and the remaining apricots only seemed appropriate.
My mom also made an apricot chicken when I was growing up, but it was always a little dry for my liking. I chose to use chicken tenders instead of full breasts in order to shorten the cooking time and keep the chicken from drying out. Also, I wanted a little tang to my sauce. Just the jam makes it too sweet. I had a bottle of catalina taking up space in my fridge. I knew that would give it some tang.
The whole dish takes just a few simple ingredients, but it produced something awesome. I has a bit of an Asian flair to it, especially when you serve it with rice. And it was a HUGE hit with the kids. They loved that I used apricots in it. It just made the whole meal even more fun to enjoy.
Apricot Chicken
Ingredients:
2 lb. chicken tenders
10 apricots, washed, pitted, and cut into quarters
1 cup catalina dressing
1 cup apricot jam
1 packet onion soup mix
White rice, cooked according to package instructions
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13" pan with cooking spray. Lay chicken tenders in pan and sprinkle apricot pieces over the top.
2. Combine catalina dressing, jam, and onion soup mix in a medium bowl. Pour over chicken and apricots.
3. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Serve over rice.
Serves 4
P.S. If you want to know how I made apricot freezer jam, you just need to pick up a bottle of Ball RealFruit Classic Pectin. This is the recipe I used. It's actually very easy to make your own freezer jam.
