Hey, everyone! I’m back hogging Megan’s Abundant Crop posts. Matt likes this, since it means I actually cook for once.

You know by now that we went away for the weekend. When I came back, my tangerines grew like crazy … in the bowl … which is why they’re so much bigger in the picture below. No, actually that’s not the case. The tangerines got somewhat smaller and greener, as in rotten. Yuck. So, in the spirit of cousins, we’re going to use a close relative of the tangerine this week: an orange. (Please, aggies, don’t tell me an orange is not a cousin to the tangerine. I can’t take it. It makes sense and cousins are awesome!)

This is actually one of my favorite recipes, though I modified it a bit. It comes from Rachael Ray’s magazine, which Megan got for me after she found a year subscription for only $1!  The recipe sounded easy enough and, as is the deciding factor in most of what I cook, I had the ingredients on hand. Rachael’s version is slightly different — calling for polenta, asparagus and green beans. While I usually make it with at least one of the two latter items, I had mashed potatoes on hand. (In the spirit of full disclosure, it’s the potato flake stuff. Guilty as charged.)

Rachael Ray’s Orange-Balsamic Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons evoo
• 1 c chicken broth
• juice of one orange
• zest from one orange
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat evoo over medium/high heat. Add chicken and cook, turning once for about 12-14 minutes, depending on thickness. Transfer to plate and cover with foil.
2. In a skillet, melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in vinegar, orange juice and chicken broth. Simmer until slightly reduced, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in juices from chicken and season with salt and pepper.
3. Drizzle sauce on top and serve.

Hopefully, this will be good enough to make you forget about the little tangerine-orange switch. In case you have a ton of tangerines, I suspect that substituting them for the oranges would taste very good, too.