Madhouse recipe : Oriental chicken with peaches

When I saw a recipe go by on a foodie newsletter that I'm signed up to for Asian Chicken with Peaches, I had a real "hmmm that sounds nice ... I think" moment. While I'm quite happy pairing fruit with meat, I wasn't sure how it would work with the Oriental flavours of soy sauce and rice vinegar. Well, there was only one way to find out and it actually came out really nice, so it's a great dish if you want to do something a bit different with a pack of chicken fillets.

Oriental chicken with peaches

ingredients :

5 chicken breasts

a large knob of butter

a clove of garlic

salt, pepper, chilli powder/paprika

a tin of peaches

2 spring onions (optional)

3tbsp brown sugar

2tbsp rice vinegar

2tbsp soy sauce (I used sweet soy sauce so taste to adjust the balance)

squirt of lime juice

Preheat oven to 200°. Melt the butter in a large frying pan, add the garlic and fry the chicken on all sides until golden brown and starting to go crispy. Don't worry if it's not cooked all the way through - it will finish off in the oven. Season with salt, pepper and paprika or chilli powder, depending on how much of a kick you want. Reserve.

Melt an extra knob of butter in the pan you cooked the chicken in then add the peaches and, if using, the spring onions. Stir in a tablespoon of brown sugar and cook, stirring, until it starts to caramelise. Add a splash of juice from the can if it starts to stick. Turn off the heat.

In small bowl, mix the remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar, the rice vinegar and soy sauce. Taste and adjust until the flavours are balanced.

Transfer the peaches to an ovenproof dish, lay the chicken on top and pour the sauce over the chicken. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked all the way through.

Serve with rice and a squeeze of lime juice on top.