Recipe: An Impromptu Comfort Chicken

Chicken and bacon. That was the request. “Can you make something with chicken and bacon?” There were some beautiful boneless skinless chicken breasts in the fridge and some hickory-smoked bacon. And of course my brain went, “What?” I’m not so sure I’ve ever seen a dish made with these two ingredients that didn’t take at least a little bit of work along with some fairly interesting ingredients. At that moment, with the snow swirling around the house (Toledo Express Airport: 10.8 inches yesterday!) I wasn’t headed out anywhere to get anything extra. So what could I do with what we had? That was the real question. Time to dig through the pantry …

My mind went back to the Crocked & Potted Little Weiners from the Old Millington Guys. I could cut the breasts into chunks, wrap them in bacon, dump some dark brown sugar and Jack Daniels’ Olde No. 7 BBQ sauce on them and let ’em cook.

Nah, too much trouble …

I heated up the oven a bit and got out a couple 9 x 13 glass dishes. I then did what any guy would do; I laid the chicken breasts in the casseroles, laid the strips of hickory-smoked bacon on the chicken, dumped some maple baked beans on top of the bacon, and shoved them in the oven, hoping through it all they’d at least be edible.

The oven was set higher than I’d wanted. It was at 300 instead of the 250 I’d intended. That’s why they turned out a touch on the dry side, as can be seen in the top photo.

But good? The chicken was nice and tender inside while a bit hard on the ouside. The bacon was brittle but the beans were dried out. Still, it was more than satisfactory and had a good hearty contrast of flavors. Couple that with some buttery savory steamed brussel sprouts and you have a solid Michigan comfort dish.

I call dibs on the copyright …