Peach Chicken with Brown Rice

I absolutely love summer when my boyfriend comes home with a box full of fruits and veggies from coworkers with overflowing gardens. We can’t wait til we get a garden of our own going, but it’s just so exciting to go through the box and seeing what goodies he brought home. We’ve gotten squash, zucchini, tomatoes, plums, and peaches. Although Matt’s happy to eat the fruit fresh, I like to do something with it.

I’m always a savory person, so I thought the peaches would be good with chicken. I looked up some recipes and found this recipe from Iowa Girl Eats. The mixture of orange juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar intrigued me- I don’t usually cook with those ingredients. I figured it was worth the try.

The chicken tasted so good! It was a far cry from my usual seasonings, but I really loved it. The peaches weren’t mushy, but silky and delicious. The sauce went really well with the brown rice. I just gobbled this up.

Since my rice cooker broke, I also included a recipe for perfect brown rice. It’s seriously perfect- the brown rice is cooked, but still retains some of it’s texture. Even once I get a new rice cooker, I think I’ll still make it this way since it comes out perfect.

Oh and I’ve also made this with boneless pork chops, came out just as great!

Peach Chicken
Recipe from Iowa Girl Eats
Serves 2

2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 chicken breasts, pounded to uniform thickness
salt & pepper
1 inch knob fresh ginger, grated or finely minced
2 garlic cloves, grated or finely minced
2 peaches, sliced thin

1. Combine brown sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, orange juice and chicken broth in a bowl. Set aside.

2. Preheat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt & pepper, then place in the hot skillet. Cook until golden brown on one side, then flip and cook until golden brown on the other side, about 4 minutes total. Chicken will not be cooked through. Remove to a plate and set aside.

3. Add ginger and garlic to the hot pan and stir constantly for no more than 10 seconds. Add the brown sugar/chicken broth mixture and sliced peaches to the pan, and increase heat to high. Cook for 6 minutes, stirring once or twice, until sauce has thickened and peaches start to become soft.

4. Nestle chicken back into the skillet, reduce heat to medium-low, place a lid on top and cook for 5 more minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Serve on top of brown rice.

 

Perfect Brown Rice
Serves 2

1 cup brown rice
4 cups water
Salt to taste

Note: if you double this recipe, make sure to use at least four cups of water for every one cup of rice

1.  Rinse rice in a strainer under cold running water for 30 seconds, swirling the rice around with your hand.

2.  Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a large pot over high heat.

3.  When water boils, add the rice, stir it once.

4.  Turn heat to medium and boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5.  After 30 minutes, pour the rice into a strainer over the sink. Let the rice drain for 10 seconds, then return it to the pot, off the heat.

6.  Immediately cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and set it aside to allow the rice to steam for 10 minutes (if your pot lid isn’t extremely tight, place a piece of aluminum foil over pot then place the lid on top of foil for a tighter seal).

7.  After ten minutes, uncover rice, fluff with a fork, and season with salt to taste.