On the Table: Blueberry Ricotta Chicken

Blueberries are everywhere these days, and I have been eating them CONSTANTLY!  They were delish on toast with cream cheese...

...and fantastic on ice cream...and wonderful just plain...

ANYWAY, I decided today to try blueberries in a savory application, and the experiment turned out wonderfully.  I roasted chicken breasts, lightly seasoned, and made a sauce with blueberries and ricotta.  The sauce was delicious on its own (I ate the leftovers on a piece of bread!), and with the chicken it was really fun and unexpected and delicious!  To prepare:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly season chicken breasts with salt, freshly ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, and curry powder.  Place them in an oven-proof dish (I just used a pie plate) and pour in chicken stock just to thinly coat the bottom of the pan (you could also just use water, if you don't have chicken stock on hand). 

Loosely cover the pan with a piece of foil and put it in the preheated oven (liquid + cover = nice juicy chicken!).  Cook for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and allow to cook for approximately 10 more minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the (really easy) sauce.  Wash half a pint of blueberries and put them in a small saucepan.

Add in just a splash of liquid (I used chicken stock, but fruit juice would probably be fantastic too) and cook over low heat, stirring occassionally, for about 15 minutes.  The blueberries will start to break open and release their juices.

Allow the sauce to cool slightly.  (You could puree the blueberries at this point, if you wanted a smoother sauce, but I liked the more rustic version.)  Add a (large) dollop of ricotta to the sauce...

...and fold it into the blueberries.

Taste and add salt if needed. 

When the chicken is done, serve it topped with the sauce.

Enjoy!