Chicken with Cherry-Tarragon Sauce

So, after a two week break, due to our vacation, I decided to post what we had for dinner last night. We really enjoyed it. I actually forgot to take pictures until the food was mostly consumed. After an "oh no!" moment, I gathered up the last bits for a photo shoot. Kind of sad. Sigh... :)

You can use delicious local Lapin cherries for this one. It is actually quite a simple recipe. The only time consuming part is pitting the cherries (unless you happen to have a handy cherry pitter, which I don't).

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. dry mustard

8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cups fresh pitted dark sweet cherries

2 Tbsp. snipped fresh tarragon

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup dry red wine or cherry juice

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 Tbsp butter

2 cups hot cooked couscous* (or rice)

1. In a shallow dish combine flour, paprika, mustard, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Coat chicken with this mixture.

2. In a skillet, cook chicken in hot oil over medium to medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, turning once. Remove from pan and cover to keep warm.

2. Add cherries, tarragon, and garlic to skillet. Cover and stir over medium heat for 1 minute. Stir in wine (or juice) and broth. Simmer uncovered, 3-5 minutes or until sauce is reduced to 2 cups. Stir in butter until melted. Season with salt and pepper.

3. To serve, spoon sauce over chicken and serve with couscous. You can sprinkle with additional tarragon.

makes 4 servings

*to make couscous, bring 2 3/4 cup water to a boil. Add 1 tsp. salt, stir, and add 1 1/2 cup couscous. Remove from heat and let sit covered for about 5 minutes (until all the water is absorbed). Fluff with a fork.