Chicken with Roasted Grapes

Amazingly, this is the first recipe I have made in over 10 years of blogging that calls for grapes. I like them fine, I guess, but I tend to prefer the imported ones and I tend to pull them off the stems and eat them; recipe over. However we went to Keady market recently, and I got a little container of green seedless grapes, juicier and zingier than their larger imported brethren.

You should serve these with mashed potatoes, polenta, or some such thing to soak up the cooking juices, which are perhaps the best part of this dish. That, and the fact that it isn't a whole lot harder than flinging the meat in a pan and sticking it in the oven, unadorned, would have been.

2 to 4 servings

4 to 6 shallots
1 teaspoon mild vegetable oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 medium chicken thighs
OR a 1 to 1.5 kg (2 to 3 pound) pork tenderloin
1/2 teaspoon each fennel seed and rosemary
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cups green or red seedless grapes
1 teaspoon mild vegetable oil; yes, again

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Peel the shallots and cut them in quarters. Toss them with the oil, mustard, and vinegar in a shallow baking dish that will hold the meat to be roasted snugly. Spread them out evenly and put the chicken thighs on top of them. If you are using the pork, you should brown it in a little (unmentioned) oil before laying it on top of the shallots. Grind the fennel seeds and rosemary, and sprinkle this, with some salt and pepper, over the meat.

Roast the chicken for 30 minutes, or the pork tenderloin for 15 to 20 minutes. While the meat cooks, remove the stems from the grapes and discard them. Toss the grapes with the remaining teaspoon of oil. Remove the pan from the oven but turn the heat up to 400°F. Sprinkle the prepared grapes around the meat and return the pan to the oven. Roast for a further 15 minutes until the grapes have all split.

Let the dish rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Posted in: Ontario Food