Bear with me, I know it sounds weird but it works!
The dish reminds me a bit of something my dad used to make when we were little with baked chicken breasts, dried onion soup and tinned apricots. I’ve included the original recipe at the bottom, just for the sake of nostalgia. It felt incredibly sophisticated at the time, but it’s not quite so appealing now…
In this recipe, there’s no soup mix, but a similar savoury/sweet flavour profile. The turnips (trust me!) add a lovely bitter counterpoint. Sounds weird, tastes amazing. I prefer it with rice because I’m a sucker for rice and gravy in any form, but you could eat with potatoes or even just on its own with some green veg.
- 2 tsp oil
- 500g chicken thighs
- 350g turnips, peeled, quartered and cut into 1cm slices
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 100ml chicken stock
- 3 tbsp decent apricot conserve (you can’t use cheap jam here)
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- Salt and pepper
- Preheat oven to 180C fan
- Heat oil in a deep, oven-safe frying pan
- Cook onions and turnips over high heat for 5 mins until they turn golden around the edges
- Add the stock, apricot conserve, mustard and thyme. Season and stir everything together
- Sit the chicken thighs on top, sprinkle with a little salt and roast for 35 mins, occasionally basting with the pan juices
My dad’s 80s style chicken with apricots (recipe originally from Babs Mitchell)
- 8 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 1 large can of apricot halves in juice
- 2 packets Lipton’s onion soup mix
- 4 large onions sliced
- Toasted almonds
- Put the sliced onions into the bottom of an ovenproof casserole dish and place the whole chicken breasts on top of them
- Mix the onion soup mix with the apricot juice, and pour evenly over the chicken
- Season and place apricot halves on top of the chicken breasts
- Add half a cup of water and bake, covered, in a moderate oven for 1 hour
Sophie cooks 