Hello everyone, I just wanted to post these amazing looking recipes I got today. I haven’t had a chance to make them yet but they look awesome. Today’s blog post includes the served chilled honey poached pears, topped with Gorgonzola and hazelnuts and the amazingly fresh and simple roast chicken with fresh thyme and honey butter.

Enjoy!

Honey Poached Pears with Gorgonzola and Hazelnuts

Ingredients

• 4 Pears
• 3 Cups White Wine
• ¾ Cup Honey
• ¼ Cup Lemon Juice
• 1 Star Anise
• 1  Cinnamon Stick
• ¼ Cup Honey
• ½ Cup Gorgonzola Cheese – Crumbled
• ¼ Cup Hazelnuts

Instructions

1. Carefully, core pears from the bottom, then peal and reserve in cold water with a few drops of lemon juice to prevent browning.
2. Combine the Wine, Honey (reserve ¼ cup), Lemon Juice and spices.
3. Place pears and honey mixture in a 2 -3 quart sauce pot ensuring that the poaching liquid fully covers the pears.
4. Place a small oven safe dish on top of the pears to keep them submerged throughout the cooking process.
5. Poach the pears on medium heat and bring to a slow simmer. Continue poaching the pears for approximately 40 minutes or until they are fork tender.
6. Remove the pears from the honey liquid and refrigerate to cool (Discard the star anise and cinnamon stick.
7. Reduce the remaining liquid down to 1 cup.
8. Remove the reduction from the heat and add the remaining honey. Refrigerate to cool.

To Serve

1. Place a chilled pear on a small chilled plate (trimming the bottom as necessary, for a flat surface).
2. Drizzle the chilled reduced poaching liquid on top of the pear and place the Gorgonzola and Hazelnuts around the plate to garnish.

Oven Roast Chicken with Fresh Thyme and Honey Butter

Total cook time: Roughly 1 hour

Ingredients

• One Small Chicken 2.5-3.5 lbs

• Fresh Thyme and Honey Butter:
• 4 oz soft (room temperature) butter
• 1.5 Tbsp Honey
• 2 -3 Sprigs of Fresh thyme, picked from stem and chopped
• 1 Tbsp Fresh Parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (optional)
• Zest of 1 lemon (optional)
• 2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp cracked pepper

Instructions

Rinse the chicken and pat dry, inside and out, with paper towels. Remove any loose fat and be sure inner cavity is completely dry.

For the butter mix all of the ingredients in a small mixing bowl or food processor. The butter should be soft, not melted.  Also, avoid any bits of stem from the thyme, use only the leaves. Set aside once complete.

With the cavity of the chicken facing you slide a finger under the skin. Starting with the breasts, gently create a pocket under the skin, taking care not to tear the skin. Next, separate the skin from the thighs with the tip of your finger.

With the cavity still facing you, use your fingers to spread the thyme honey butter under the skin in the pocket you have just created.  Push the butter into the thighs and liberally across the breast; be gentle throughout this process.

Season the outside of the chicken and the inner cavity with salt and pepper. Tuck the wing tips behind themselves. Cover loosely with a paper towel and refrigerate.

To Roast the Chicken:

Preheat the oven to 475°

In a shallow roasting pan, place the chicken breast side up in the center of the oven.  After about 30 minutes, baste the chicken with any pan dripping that have accumulated in the bottom of the roasting pan and turn the chicken over.  Reduce the temperature to 450°. Roast for another 10 -20 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken, then turn the bird over again and roast another 5-10 minutes.  Overall cooking time should be 45-60 minutes. The skin should be crispy,  golden brown and any juices running from the bird should be clear.

Carefully remove the chicken from the oven and allow it to rest 5 minutes. Lift the chicken from the pan and place on the center of a plate pour any pan dripping back over the chicken.

Serve while hot with oven roast potatoes and green beans for a delicious meal!

The following recipes were brought to you by Honeydrop beverages found here.

Honeydrop Beverages, the all natural line of teas and juices sweetened with a tablespoon of pure honey, together with Dan Lorig, Honeydrop COO, former Teaching Kitchen Manager of The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and Certified Chef de Cuisine, have created two honey-centric recipes perfect for all of your holiday celebrations.

ABOUT HONEYDROP BEVERAGES

Honeydrop Beverages is a healthy line of teas and juices powered by honey. Each bottle of Honeydrop is made with a spoonful of pure honey, is void of all refined or artificial sweeteners and contains only 70 to 90 calories. In 2011, Honeydrop announced its “Buy a Bottle – Save a Bee” initiative where a percentage of the profits from each bottle sold are donated to local beekeepers throughout the country to help battle Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), an epidemic threatening the global bee population.

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