Cider-Braised Chicken And Cabbage

Happy St.Patrick's Day!!  I'm Irish-American (as well as Scottish and Native American).  My mother always fixed corned beef and cabbage for us, which was OK. Truth to tell, I'm not a big fan.  I did like the corned beef hash made with the leftovers, however.  Several years ago, a friend from Ireland informed me that corned beef and cabbage is never eaten on St. Paddy's day in Ireland. It's purely an American invention. That absolved me for not making corned beef in honor of my Irish roots!  Great.  Instead, I usually make colcannon, which is food of the gods in my book. But, yesterday I made this authentic Irish pub recipe of Cider-Braised Chicken And Cabbage instead. 

This recipe comes from the book The Irish Pub Cook Book by Margaret Johnson, and was featured this week in newspapers all across the United States and Canada, so there may be a lot of blog entries on it.  It's not fancy, but tastes very good.  The apple cider and golden raisins give a little sweetness to the dish. The cabbage wasn't mushy, even after  nearly two hours of braising in the oven.  And the chicken was fork tender and absolutely delicious. Oh, I wasn't able to find Irish cider. Instead I had to make do with English cider.  Was that bad?

A chunk of Irish soda bread would have been nice to sop up the delicious broth. But, I was lazy and used some French bread instead.  Not authentic, but it worked.

Cider-Braised Chicken And Cabbage  (The Irish Pub Cook Book by Margaret Johnson)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

6 (5- to 6-ounce) bone-in chicken breast halves, skin on  ( I used thighs and legs)

1/4 cup olive oil

4 or 5 cloves garlic

3 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced

1 large onion, thickly sliced

3 bay leaves

1/2 cup golden raisins

2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary

2 cups shredded Savoy cabbage

1 cup homemade chicken stock, canned low-sodium chicken broth, or 1 chicken bouillon cube mixed with 1 cup boiling water

1 cup Irish cider, preferably Magners brand

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl and dredge the chicken in it, shaking off the excess.

In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the chicken in batches and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. Transfer the chicken to a large ovenproof baking dish.

Tuck the garlic, carrots, onions and bay leaves in between the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with the raisins, parsley and rosemary. Place the cabbage on top, season with salt and pepper, and pour the stock or broth and cider over the meat and vegetables. Cover with foil and bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until the chicken is tender.

To serve, place a chicken breast in the center of each of 6 plates and spoon the vegetables and sauce over the top.

Makes 6 servings.

Comments

[Karina]

Oh my! This is my kind of recipe. I love cooking veggies in apple juice or apple cider. And I love golden raisins. This looks divine! Beautiful!

[sher]

Karina,

This was very nice. As you know, cider braised foods have a nice taste--just a little sweetness to them. And I also love adding golden raisins to food!