Culinary Goddess

[revena]

I'm at that awkward point in the week where most of the fresh food from the weekend shopping trip has been used in one recipe or another, and there are lots of tasty leftovers in the fridge, but there's still just a little bit of fresh stuff that, if not used, is totally going to go bad in a day or so. So I took stock of what was left uncooked (not much), and just made dinner from the following items:

Approx. one pound chicken
Approx. one pound asparagus
Basalmic vinegar
Butter
Apricot preserves
Soy sauce
Salt
Pepper

So it's apricot-glazed chicken bits and roasted basalmic asparagus. And it's fantastic.

Oh, and did I mention low-fat?

I rock.

For the asparagus:

Preheat oven to 400. Spray glass baking pan with non-stick (I used butter-flavored). Wash and trim asparagus, and place in pan in as thin a layer as possible. Sprinkle with salt, to taste. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked through.

Melt two tablespoons butter in small saucepan. When butter is melted, stir in a teaspoon of soy sauce, and a few teaspoons of basalmic vinegar (more if you really like it, less if it's not your favorite flavor). Heat sauce until it starts to bubble, then remove from heat and pour over asparagus, tossing gently to coat.

For the chicken:

Remove any skin and all visible fat, and cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Spray small pan with non-stick. Place over medium heat, and fry chicken with salt and pepper until cooked through (approx. 5 minutes, if the pieces are small).

In another pan (I did this after the asparagus, and just used the same pan I had for that sauce), melt two-three tablespoons of apricot preserves over low heat. Add basalmic vinegar, to taste (I think I used about half a tablespoon), and 1/4 cup water. Stir sauce until it thickens, then combine with chicken, tossing well to coat.

Serve! And enjoy the contrasting, yet very complimentary flavors!