Friday, September 24, 2021

Roasted Chicken and Pears from @MaddieDayAuthor #giveaway

MADDIE here, with a delicious cold-weather recipe. I've been recipe testing for a Christmas Scarf novella in my Country Store Mysteries. Robbie Jordan and crew decide to do a Twelve Days of Christmas theme for their breakfast and lunch recipes. Robbie declares that partridge is close enough to chicken to count, and she devises a roasted chicken with pears lunch special for "Partridge in a Pear Tree."


The three-novel collection should be out in fall of 2022, just in time for Christmas! Read down for a giveaway.

Roasted Chicken and Pears

The chicken, fruit, and vegetables all roast together in the oven, and they come out golden and caramelized, just the kind of crowd-pleasing dish you'll want for your next dinner party.

Ingredients


2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

1 onion, cut into 1-inch-wide wedges

2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Coarse salt and ground pepper

2 cups broccoli florets, 1 cup chopped stems

2 Asian eggplants, cut in inch pieces (not shown in Ingredients picture because I found them in the garden and wanted to include them)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 boneless chicken breasts and 2 boneless thighs

2 firm, ripe pears (about 1 1/2 pounds total), halved, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Season chicken on both sides with 1/2 teaspoon thyme, salt, and pepper, rubbing well into meat.

On a large rimmed baking sheet (or two small ones), toss carrot, eggplant, broccoli stems, and onions with vinegar, 1 tablespoon oil, and parsley. [Note: I tossed eggplant with oil and added it later.]

Push vegetables to edges of baking sheet; place chicken pieces in center, and roast 30 minutes.

Remove baking sheet from oven, add pears and broccoli florets, drizzle with another tablespoon of oil, and toss with vegetables to combine. Roast 30 minutes more. Serve immediately over rice or with fresh bread.


Readers: What's your favorite recipe including that quintessential fall fruit, pears? I'll send one lucky commenter a copy of my previous Christmas mystery in this series, Candy Slain Murder!


My most recent release is Country Store Mystery #9. No Grater Crime came out in August!




Murder at the Lobstah Shack is up for preorder and releases at the end of November!


The next up is Batter Off Dead, Country Store Mystery #10, to release in February 2022, and also up for preorder.



We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

20 comments:

  1. My favorite fall recipe is chili. With lots of beans, especially black beans.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I once won a second place ribbon for my own recipe for Pear Amour Pie. The produce had to come from the farmers market, and everyone else made apple pies. My crust was made with ground pecans and bitter chocolate, and there was Calvados in the pears.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I actually don’t have a pear recipe, but Karen’s sure does sound delicious ~bobandcelia(at)sbcglobal(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ooooo...my pear tree is loaded with fruit, and this dish looks scrumptious! Thank you, Edith/Maddie!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The recipe I adapted from called for a tablespoon of honey drizzled over the chicken at the halfway point, Leslie. I thought the pears would already make it too sweet for us, but you could try that!

      Delete
  5. We don't eat pears and that is a fruit tree we don't have on our land. My hubby and I make a mean chili that we enter every year at the church chili cookoff and if we have pears or any other fruit that needs eating we put it in our chili and we have won 5 years in a row and in fact that comes up in Oct just before we go visit my family out west. Thank you so much Edith for posting we will probably make the recipe using peaches and thank you for asking ptclayton2 at aol.com. peggy clayton

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like to just eat fresh pears or in a fruit cup. Thank you for this chance! pgenest57 at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pear Upside Down cake made with a spice cake.

    ReplyDelete
  8. All these ideas sound like fun.
    My challenge with pears is they are usually a bit too crunchy for my liking. I like my apple crisp, but not my pears.
    I'm sure the roasting would take care of the crunchiness.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I don't have a special pie recipe. I have actually used pears instead apples in my apple pie recipes and it was really delicious.
    diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  10. This looks delicious! I love any recipe with roasted pears

    ReplyDelete
  11. I never thought about using pears in any recipes other than the pear upside down cake mentioned. Sounds like an interesting challenge. Thanks for the idea.
    lindalou64(@)live(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda, you are our lucky winner! Please check your email, and congratulations.

      Delete
  12. When my late m-i-l's pear tree died she would either drive to the Farmer's Market to buy a bushel or two, or out to the country in East TX.(where our family farm is and we now live) and I'd often accompany her. She got me,dh,& my f-i-l to help peel them. Then she made wondeful preserves, breads, pies and cakes, with me often helping. One of my faves is the upside-down cake, similar to this one, adapted from David Lebovitz's recipe https://unwrittenrecipes.com/blog/2015/maple-walnut-pear-cake . Sometimes she used black walnuts we'd picked, which was another pain-making chore to crack, but delicious! Everyone in our family loves pears, and every year for Xmas one of my brothers gives us a box of Harry & David's pears. Yum. Your recipe sounds great Edith, and I love sheet pan dinners! lola777_22 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  13. I like pears but have never made them in any recipes. Thanks for the chance!
    Jess
    Maceoindo(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think this just made next week's menu. Looks delish!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I like baked pears, pear cobbler, or pear pie.

    Nancy
    allibrary (at) aol (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  16. Pears layered with lime jello and cream cheese is my favorite way to have pears. It's a recipe my Mom made as a dessert. Lnchudej@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. Linda Semler is our lucky winner! Please check your email, Linda, and congratulations.

    ReplyDelete