Cherry Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken
One 3-5 lbs chicken, cut up
2 carrots, large chopped
2 celery stalks, large chopped
1 large onion, quartered
4 cloves of garlic, whole, skins left on
Handful of Italian Parsley stems
Salt and pepper to taste
Sauce
2 pints of cherries, pitted and chopped
2 cups of chicken stock, reserved from chicken above
½ cup golden raisins, chopped
1 shallot, minced
4 teaspoons of unbleached flour
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
garlic from above, skin removed
1 to 2 teaspoons of raw sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Place the chicken ingredients in a deep stock pot and cover with enough water that the chicken is 2 inches from surface. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer until chicken is tender and meat is about to fall off the bones. Remove chicken, strain stock, reserve and save the garlic. Let chicken cool, remove from bones and shred, place in a deep serving dish, cover and place in a warm oven to keep chicken warm.
Place cherries and chicken stock in deep sauce pan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until cherries are very soft. Strain stock, return to sauce pan along with raisins, 1 teaspoon of sugar, shallots, salt and pepper, whisk to combine. Place cherries in a Cuisinart, along with garlic and puree. Return mixture to sauce pan.
In a small sauce pan melt butter, remove from heat and whisk in flour to form a paste. Next add about ¼ cup of the cherry stock to thin paste. Then whisk butter mixture into the stock. Return to heat, bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer until sauce thickens. (Taste sauce during the thickening process, if too tart add the balance of the sugar). Remove from heat.
Remove chicken from oven, pour sauce over chicken, toss to coat, garnish with parsley.