Flowering Oregano tops from the garden are great with chicken. Not much food has grown in our garden this year, but we’ve had some success with oregano despite or because of some oak seedlings (which during a time of little rain, shaded the oregano at the ground).
Serves 4 to 8 people (8 with couscous or some type of grain or potato in the pan cake, like a fried polenta cake, or even maybe some type of thin wrapping, and a steamed vegetable such as a summer squash. * Adding another protein such as a mild flavored or complementary bean variety should work with this recipe (side dish, or with it). Lettuce is tasty with it also.
For growing families this one chicken breast recipe might only serve 2 to 6 people (6 with sides).
Tools:
2 small cutting boards and 2 knives (need two to keep the onion separate if making a treat also for your dog)
2 knives and a fork
1 medium casserole dish
1 small fine mesh sieve
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast from a free range chicken
2 sprigs of oregano
2 sprigs of thyme
1 medium yellow onion cut into 8 wedges.
1/2 t (?) cayenne pepper
3 T golden raisins
1/2 t (?) Indonesian cinnamon
2 organic oranges with skin, thinly sliced, except for ends (reserve them).
some tiny peppers
1T Braggs apple cider vinegar
1 tomato sliced thinly
3 large leaves of Tuscan (dinosaur, etc.) Kale thinly sliced into a confetti, crosswise.
The CHICKEN gets sliced on the bottom for faster cooking, and some OREGANO and THYME was put into the slices, and on the bottom of the dish (which had a little olive oil, and about 1T of butter on it.)
Some CAYENNE PEPPER also went on the bottom of the chicken, and on some ONIONS, which went all round (one under). GOLDEN RAISINS went around about the onions, and the INDONESIAN CINNAMON was sprinkled over them (this is cinnamon usually carried in grocery stores I believe – there is also Vietnamese Cinnamon, and more).
2 thinly SLICED ORANGES – some slices were put on the chicken meat on top, a couple went under the chicken’s skin. The ends not sliced were squeezed over the chicken, broken in halves, and put over some of the oranges. A few TINY PEPPERS from a local farm market were put around also.
About a Tablespoon of Braggs APPLE CIDER VINEGAR went around about the chicken also, over the onions – if nearing the bottom, if you prefer, use a strainer to catch unwanted solids from the vinegar. One TOMATO was sliced thinly, and placed over the top of the chicken.
Bake at 425 for about a half hour – check to verify it is cooked through.
When almost done, open oven, pull rack with chicken breast closer (heat pad, be safe), add shredded KALE in a loose confetti pile on top. Close oven.
The Kale will cook in a few minutes – (here is where these directions become uncertain, as at this point my family was getting hungry and the oven was turned up a bit – it might have been on 435 degrees Fahrenheit) – the kale cooked, then began to turn brown and burn, and right before it did, as one could smell this, the chicken was pulled out of the oven. I recommend not turning up the oven ( the Kale was tasty having just begun to brown – I am assuming at 425, it still would – keep a watch, and your sense of smell on it).
Out of the oven, scrape tomato, and anything else off to the side from the chicken skin, and then remove the chicken skin (if you do not want the skin – or, as it would browned, it might look tasty).
Break up the chicken, as in the photo above, into something closer to bite-sized pieces (if using the chicken skin, probably chop into thin slices??),and stir all enough to disperse the ingredients, without breaking up the onion wedges too much.
The orange rind should be edible if organic juice oranges were used. Cutting up the slices into bite-sized pieces helps. The large chunks of rind I discarded as there was already much orange rind in the recipe (and these end of the orange rinds were not saved for our dog as they sat over 4 of the onions – no large chunks of orange peel by the way for dogs – see https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nutrition/can-dogs-eat-oranges/#:~:text=Orange%20peels%20are%20not%20toxic,dog’s%20reach%20for%20those%20reasons.). Might the extra orange peels have been saved for a secondary dish of some type, such as to be diced and put with green beans, for another meal? Maybe so. ( Consider though that they are no longer just orange peel – they are flavored with the onion wedge they sat over, and probably some chicken fat, and other oils that wafted around the pan when the chicken was cooking.)
Servings and Sides: One chicken breast this way can serve up to maybe six or even eight people, depending on age, and activity levels, if add some plain couscous made with chicken stock and butter, and another vegetable on the side. For company, however, and if everyone enjoys meat, plan on this serving only 4 people.
For Canines:
Do not give any of this to your dog, as it is cooked with Onions and Raisins.
For a treat for your dog, cook some chicken with any or all of the ingredients EXCEPT ABSOLUTELY NO ONION OR GOLDEN RAISINS. Even onion juice is not recommended in many texts.
https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/care/non_traditional_healing/cayenne-for-canines-theyre-not-too-hot/
* The Greens Cookbook (by Madison with Brown) – has a list of Companion Dishes, including a Corn Bread, a Polenta, Brown Rice, zucchini Fritters, Potato Fritters, and a section including a Buckwheat Crepe recipe. .. I will check a few other cookbooks.