We are happy to feature another amazing recipe from our resident foodie, Maggie! This week’s feature is a delicious home-city inspired dish that will sure to be a great addition to your weekly recipe rotation! Thanks again, Maggie.
To link directly to Maggie’s blog for a whole slew of a other great eats, click on her bio at the bottom, or the title of the recipe just below! Enjoy.
Napa Valley Chicken with Grapes and a White Wine Sauce
I grew up in Napa Valley – Wine Country – in California. As a child and a teenager, I remember going to wineries with my parents. I would watch them sample the wine, while I would sample the cheeses, mustards, fruits and crackers! One of my favorite thing to do was to eat the fresh wine grapes. The sweet Sirah grapes were my favorite. To this day grapes are some of my favorite fruits, and they are especially good right now! Although they are available year round, you can get good local grapes from late summer all the way to December.
Inspired by my memories of my childhood spent in Wine Country, I thought I would make a roasted chicken dish that would incorporate those flavors. We eat a lot of chicken, and I am always thinking of new ways to cook it. This dish gets its flavor from white wine and lemons, so it’s super light, fresh, and vibrant!
You will need:
1 whole chicken, butchered
1/2 a large red onion, rustically sliced
1 1/2 Cups red grapes (350 grams) sliced in half lengthwise
1 Cup chicken stock
1 Cup white wine
3 cloves of garlic, diced
1/4 Cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp herb and garlic blend
salt and pepper to taste
2 lemons, sliced width-wise
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Divide the chicken into wings, legs, and breasts, and lay out in a large dutch oven with enough space so that they don’t touch. Spill your sliced grapes, onions, and garlic into the dutch oven, and then pour the white wine and chicken stock over everything. Lay the lemon slices over your chicken, and tuck some underneath the chicken skin too! Sprinkle your herbs, salt and pepper over your dish, cover, and place in your oven for 30 minutes.
When your 30-minute timer goes off, remove your cover, and turn your oven to 400 degrees, and bake for another 20-30 minutes until the biggest piece of chicken is at least 155-160 degrees.
I like the breast meat, and a five-ounce portion (I was hungry) is about 215 calories. This is a portion a little bigger than a deck of cards. A third of a cup of the grapes, red onions, and sauce is about 40 calories, so 255 calories total. I paired this with my Fall Harvest Risotto (stay tuned for the recipe next week!) for a HUGE plate of food that left me stuffed, at only 408 calories total. Yes, that is correct! Fool your family (and your brain) into thinking you are having something really decadent, but still keep it trim.
Enjoy guys, and as always, let me know how you like it!
My name is Maggie Jasmin, and starting in January 2013, I dedicated myself to a new fitness journey, and have since lost 115 pounds. I move more, pick up heavy things, think intelligently about my food, and try to be the healthiest I can every day. This doesn't mean I gave up the foods I love – I just make them healthy! I blog and post recipes about my comfort food turned health food at 
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