Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Cranberry Chicken With Rice Simple, Colorful Meal

Charlotte Balcomb Lane Knight Ridder/Tribune

Cranberry Chicken With Ginger Confetti Rice is a delicious dinner that can be prepared in minutes and bake unattended.

Canned cranberry sauce, mixed with a few condiments and the cooking juices from the chicken, forms a rich, tangy gravy that is an elegant burgundy color and tastes like a very uptown barbecue sauce.

The sauce and chicken are complemented by a colorful rice pilaf.

Cranberry Chicken With Ginger Confetti Rice

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (5 to 6 ounces each)

8 ounces (1/2 can) jellied cranberry sauce

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped

2 cups water

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon chopped red bell pepper

1 tablespoon chopped yellow bell pepper

1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked

1 tablespoon frozen green peas

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. Trim all visible fat from the chicken breasts. Fold the thin, pointed ends of the breast under the thick ends so that each breast forms a square shape, to ensure even cooking. Place the breasts in the baking dish.

Melt the cranberry sauce in a saucepan over low heat or in a microwave-safe dish on high power. Stir in the red wine vinegar, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Pour the mixture evenly over the chicken. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

For the rice, combine the ginger, water, salt, red pepper and yellow pepper in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in the rice and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until the water has been absorbed. Add the green peas and allow to steam in the rice for 5 minutes before serving. Serve the chicken and sauce with the rice on the side.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving including rice: 472 calories, 6 grams fat (11 percent fat calories), 55 grams protein, 45 grams carbohydrate, 144 milligrams cholesterol, 705 milligrams sodium.

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, RECIPE - On the Light Side