Merciful God, You are great in compassion and Your tenderness for us is without measure. We ask You to give us today our daily bread, and also provide for the needs of all of Your hungry children around the world. Through Christ Your Son and Our Lord. Amen.

Friday, September 12, 2008

BBQ Comfort Food

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This week has been a difficult one for my family. With the passing of a beloved priest and the serious illness of my cousin Jill, we've had few moments of pleasure. However, like many other people in the world, we take comfort in food. Some folks find fault in that, but I don't have much use for those folks. I say it's better than comfort shopping, or comfort drinking. Everything in moderation, I say.

This dish is one of my family's go-to comfort dishes. It's a take on my mom's recipe, which she makes all the way through in a skillet. You can also prepare it that way, but I like to pop my chicken in the oven for a bit and clean up the kitchen before dinner. Baking it also gives me time to prepare the mashed potatoes without worrying about the chicken getting dry or burning.

My kids love this dish, and I can always tell by how quiet the table gets during dinner. We top our mashed potatoes with extra sauce, like gravy, but that's a personal thing -- maybe you don't like that idea. And when I make mashed potatoes for this dish, I always add a big chunk of cream cheese as I'm stirring. The cream cheese makes them
really creamy, and just a little tangy --- a good match with the sauce. Oh, and I chop the onion in big pieces so that we can have the flavor, but the picky kids can pick out the pieces.



Oven Baked BBQ Chicken
Printer Version

4 T. chopped onion
2 T. butter
1 cup ketchup
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. yellow mustard
6 T. brown sugar (more or less to taste)
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2T. olive oil
2 T. corn or vegetable oil
salt and pepper or seasoning like Goya
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders


Start BBQ sauce in a saucepan: saute onion in butter until wilted.
Add remaining sauce ingredients and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
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Heat a large skillet over med. high heat.
Add oils and heat.
Add chicken and season.
When chicken lightly browns on one side, flip and season other side.
Cook until lightly brown and then place chicken in a 13 x 9 dish.
Pour sauce over chicken and bake for 30 minutes (for tenders)
to 45 minutes (for breasts) or until chicken is completely cooked.


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2 comments:

Margaret in Minnesota said...

This dish looks perfect for a quiet, comforting family dinner. I am bookmarking it for later reference, and as always, I am praying for Jill and for your family.

Anonymous said...

I made this tonight for my family. I used the chicken tenders, and I made the mashed potatoes too. I've never liked gravy on my potatoes, however, I tried this and it was really good! My kids, 7 and 9, and husband liked it as well. Thank you for a good recipe.