Chicken a l'Orange?

Having just received a bag of oranges so large that it made Cranky walk with a distinct list to starboard, I was eager to start using them with dinner. I thought of Duck a l'Orange, a classic recipe that appeared in Gourmet in about the year I was born, but I wanted to make something like it using the chicken breast in my fridge instead.

Consulting epicurious.com for a basic recipe, I discovered that most of these recipes call for the one ingredient I had let my pantry run out of - chicken broth. But, I knew that I wanted a nice combination of sweet, savory and herbal flavors, so I decided just to wing it.

I browned the chicken breasts in butter over medium-high heat, added a generous splash of sherry wine vinegar for piquancy, a large orange worth of juice and zest for sweetness, and about 1 teaspoon each of Herbes de Provence and dried rosemary to the pan to add the herbal notes. I sauteed the breasts a few minutes longer just to reduce the juice and sherry and to cook the breasts just through, not too much, turning the supremes over and over in the juice to coat. The meat was ever-so-slightly pink and still juicy when I sliced it.

On the plate, I added the colorful carrots I described yesterday, done with a similar preparation (in fact, next time I might just do them all together), a nice big local artichoke and some slices of the chicken, drizzled with the pan reduction.

It was an instant classic at our house, Herbal Chicken a l'Orange.