Honey Bacon Chicken Breasts with Lavender

I recently entered a giveaway where the prize was spices. How lucky for me that I won!!!  The sponsor was My Spice Sage and the spices I won were onion powder, dill, tarragon and lavender. Lavender? I'm used to lavender being in my bubble bath and scented candles. I've heard of cooking with lavender buds so when I won this, I was excited to expand my adventures in the kitchen to include this. I found a recipe on La Table Denana. Her recipe is for a whole chicken but I didn't have one but did have some chicken breasts in the freezer. Her recipe adapted well to chicken breasts and also to Hubby and my tastes. He was skeptical at first, but was pleased with the result. 

Ingredients for the Chicken

2 large chicken breasts, cut in half

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/2 lemon, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon edible lavender blossoms

4 strips bacon

Ingredients for the sauce

1 strip bacon, chopped

1 shallot, cut into rings

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup white wine

1 cup low sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup honey

1 Tablespoon edible lavender

For nutrition information, click the Magic Button  

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rinse and pat dry chicken. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Rub with olive oil and coat with the herbs de Provence and lavender.  Wrap each breast with bacon and lemon. Bake chicken for 20-30 minutes depending on the thickness of your chicken piece.

While that's baking, let's make some sauce!! Pour olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and cook the bacon. 

Add shallot and garlic and cook until softened. And wine and stir. Add chicken broth, honey and the lavender. Cook until done. 

If you want to add thickness to the sauce a 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of corn starch will do the trick. Take a bit of this sauce and baste the chicken at about the 15 minute mark of baking.

Doesn't that look so good? I didn't add lemon to each wrapped chicken breast since Hubby is not much of a lemon fan, so I added extra to mine.  To serve, place your chicken breast on your plate and pour additional sauce on top. The sauce… what can I say? It was amazing!!  The honey, wine and bacon make a wicked combination of flavors. Hubby called it a taste explosion in his mouth!