I have adored blue­ber­ries since I was a kid.  Per­haps it was the times I would go to the Log Cabin with my great grand­mother and my Aunt Mad­die.  Per­haps it was pick­ing them off a neighbor’s bush in New Britain much to the cha­grin of our neigh­bors.  Maybe it was when I tried blue­berry cheese­cake for the first time at the Sage Allen restau­rant in West­farms Mall in Con­necti­cut (I didn’t like the cheese­cake, just the blue­ber­ries).  Basi­cally, the love affair with this sim­ple fruit has lasted for decades.

When I was shop­ping this week­end, I encoun­tered a HUGE sale.  Blue­ber­ries were on sale at Gen­uardis for under a dol­lar and I stocked up with the intent to freeze most and per­haps make a blue­berry sauce for dessert.  Those plans were quickly scrapped when I encoun­tered a recipe for Sautéed Chicken with Blue­berry Sauce and Blue Cheese in Cui­sine at Home’s lat­est issue of CUISINELite.  This sauce had quite a bit of spice so if you are a wimp (like I am at times) you might want to reduce the amount of red pep­per.  The blue cheese pro­vid­ing the right amount of creami­ness to off­set the sauce.  Not to men­tion, the per serv­ing calo­rie count is under 300 calo­ries.  Serve it with some cous­cous and you’re all set.  I guess that it is safe to say that blue­ber­ries aren’t just for dessert anymore.

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Sautéed Chicken With Blue­berry Sauce And Blue Cheese

Recipe cour­tesy of  CUISINELite, 2009

Ingre­di­ents:

• 2 bone­less skin­less chicken breasts, halved (5–6 oz. each)
• 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, divided
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp. minced shallot
• 1/4 cup dry Madeira or sherry
• 3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tbsp. bal­samic vinegar
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. red pep­per flakes
• 2 tsp. crum­bled blue cheese

Direc­tions:

1. Using a meat mal­let, pound each piece of chicken between plas­tic wrap to a thick­ness of 1/2 inch.  After pound­ing, cut each breast into two pieces. 
2. Heat 2 tsp. oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat.
3. Sea­son chicken with 1/4 tsp. salt and black pepper. 
4. Sauté chicken on both sides until cooked through (6 min.).  Trans­fer chicken to a plate; tent with foil.
5. Sauté shal­lot in pan with 1 tsp. oil over high heat (1 min.).  Deglaze the pan with Madeira, cook­ing until liq­uid is nearly evaporated.
6. Add blue­ber­ries; sim­mer until berries start to burst, about 2 min­utes.  Add broth, vine­gar, brown sugar, pep­per flakes, and remain­ing 1/4 tsp. salt.
7. Crush blue­ber­ries with a potato masher; sim­mer 2 minutes.
8. Place two chicken pieces on each plate.  Top serv­ings with blue­berry sauce; gar­nish with blue cheese. 

Lin­ing Up The Ingredients

Sautéing the blue­ber­ries with the shallots

The final prod­uct – delish!