When I graduated from Johnson and Wales, I went to work at a local resort. The resort was a 4-Diamond rated facility at the time, and the food offered at all locations was top level.  I learned a lot. One of the most vital things I learned was knife skills. I worked in a banquet and catering department, and we fed groups ranging in size from 5 to 500. I will tell you this, it takes a great deal of peeled and diced #1 potatoes to make loaded mashed potatoes for 500 people!
What I am getting at is that your knife skills had to be good to keep up and if they were lacking, trust me, they improved or you were moved on. Now my skills are nowhere near what they were or on the same level as others, but I can hold my own. Cooking is so much faster and enjoyable if you are good with a sharp knife. (Bet you didn’t know a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one, huh?)
Believe or not, I created this dish one day while I was off and practicing petite dicing of vegetables in my own kitchen. As you have probably noticed, The Well-Fed Family loves the combination of fruit and protein. I created this dish for a two-fold purpose: 1) To practice dicing, and 2) to satisfy a desire of the Lucky Wife for a dish utilizing pineapple and chicken. I think it turned out well. Enjoy.
Roasted Chicken with Pineapple Relish
- 6 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 small red bell pepper
- 1 small green bell pepper
- 1/4 diced red onion
- 1 fresh pineapple
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- Approximately 1 1/2 cups rice wine vinegar
- Approximately 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt, to taste
- garlic powder, to taste
- paprika, to taste
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees
- Season chicken breasts with salt, garlic powder and paprika, cover with wrap and keep in fridge until ready to roast
- Place granulated sugar in small, non-stick sauce pan and add enough rice wine vinegar to cover sugar. Place sauce pan on low heat and stir sugar and vinegar with a wooden spoon or whisk until sugar is completely incorporated. Heat mixture over low heat until it reaches poaching temperature (steam will be rising but there will be no convection)
- Allow mixture to poach for approximately 3 to 5 minutes, being careful not to overheat and burn
- Remove sauce pan from heat and place pan in freezer uncovered to cool (this is your simple syrup)
- Peel, core and dice pineapple into 1/4 inch dice and place in medium mixing bowl
- Dice red and green bell pepper and red onion into 1/8 inch dice and add to mixing bowl
- Combine thoroughly, cover mixing bowl with wrap and place in fridge to chill.
- Remove chicken from fridge and place all 6 breasts on a cookie sheet or shallow roasting pan
- Drizzle seasoned chicken with olive oil. Place in oven and roast until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees, approximately 20 to 25 minutes
- Once chicken is roasted, remove from oven and allow to rest before serving
- Check temperature of simple syrup. Syrup should be completely cooled. Remove fruit and simple syrup from fridge/freezer. Drizzle syrup over fruit and fold in with spoon until fruit is completely coated. Taste test and add more syrup if desired. Be careful not to add too much syrup as it will overpower the relish
- Pile generous amount of relish over warm chicken breast and serveÂ
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About the Author
Raised in eastern North Carolina, The Chef has always most loved southern cuisine. While working for a top resort just after finishing Culinary School at Johnson and Wales University, when they still had a campus located in Charleston, South Carolina, he began learning about Gullah cuisine and enjoys it as well. He's a family man and country boy at heart, loves hunting and is a big fan of the John Boy and Billy Big Show and the Carolina Panthers.
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