2 tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 lb broiling chicken, quartered
3 lb mixed root vegetables,
1 peeled and cut up
2 medium onions, peeled and cut in
1 wedges
2 small cooking apples, peeled,
1 cored, and thickly sliced
2/3 cup dried green lentils
1 cup apple juice
1 1/4 cup chicken broth
Directions
Preheat oven to 375oF. Select at least a 6 quart ovenproof pot large
enough in diameter to hold chicken in a single layer. Heat oil in pot
over medium heat. Brown chicken in hot oil for 20 minutes, turning to
brown both sides. Drain on paper towels. Add root vegetables and
onion to hot oil in same pot. Saute for 4-5 minutes until vegetables
begin to brown. Add apples, lentils, apple juice, and chicken broth.
Mix well to cover lentils with liquid. Bring to a boil. Season to
taste with salt and pepper. Add chicken, skin side up. Cover and bake
at 375oF for 1 hour until juices run clear when chicken is pierces
with a fork and lentils are tender. Note: To thicken pan juices,
puree a few of the cooked vegetables with some of the pan juices in a
blender. Stir back into remaining pan juices.
Servings: 4 servings
Chicken & Apple Casserole Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Casserole; Chicken; Fruit; Main Dish; Poultry
The History of Recipes
It is quite feasible to track the history of transcribed cooking instructions far back into ancient history, in fact as far as pharonic Egypt, and potentially, even further back. Interesting though that maybe, generally, these old records were just basic hieroglyphic recipes for preparing meals.
Interestingly, the most ancient recipe in existence, according to academics is a series of tablets in ancient Sumerian which show the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who drank it feel blissful and exhilarated. Progressing into The time of the romans around 25BC a roman called Apicius compiled some scripts showing how to cook the recipes prepared by wealthy roman citizens. In his publication, he describes how the meals were separated into hors d`oeuvre, entrees and afters, a style of dining still practiced today. Aspicius informs us how the ancient Romans used many spices, including some familiar names such as thyme, mint and parsley. Moving on, there were a couple of books which were published in the fourteenth century : a cookery book called `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. Amusingly, these have no connection with the spicy food that is popular today, but rather descriptions of the types of meals enjoyed by the rich people of the time. Later, in the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought us many new foods and spices from Arab cooking, including spices like coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary. These new spices and herbs prompted an outbreak in cookery books, many of which still exist in academic collections. During the next few hundred years, the rich and powerful families of the West strove to lay on the most extravagent banquests, and as a consequence, the best chefs and their collection of recipes were at a premium. Even so, it wasn`t until the 1800s the formal cooking and recipe collections really came of age. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the USA, devoted their lives to collating, testing, and writing down the recipes that were being prepared for the better households. By the advent of the 1900s, cookery books were starting to become popular as a result of more people being able to read, people having increased leisure time and having more disposable income. Like it or not, the introduction of TV gave us celebrity TV chefs and the demand for the spin-off recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, permitting everyone to access thousands of recipes like the ones you can find on this web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Chicken & Apple Casserole recipe.
