New Englandish Chicken Apple Bacon Salad

• 2 large size tart apples. I like to use Fuji when available.
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
• 1/2 pound good quality bacon
• 4 tablespoons good quality maple syrup
• 8 ounces good quality apple cider
• 2 bonless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 pound bag of baby spinach leaves drained and rinsed
• 1 head of romaine lettuce drained, risned, and ripped by hand into bite size pieces
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup dried blueberries
• 1 cup roughly chopped previously roasted pecan pieces
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup good quality mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon reserved bacon fat
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1. Line the bottom of a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Chop apples roughly into 1/2 inch pieces and combine them in a bowl with black pepper, 1 teaspoon dill, and thyme.
3. Place the apple pieces on the lined baking sheet.
4. Place uncooked bacon pieces on top of apple slices and set aside.
5. In a small square baking dish combine 2 tablespoons of the maple syrup with 4 ounces of the apple cider with a fork just until blended.
6. Lightly salt and pepper chicken breasts and place in the baking dish and flip to cover breasts on both sides with the apple cider/maple syrup mixture.
7. Place both the baking dish and the baking sheet in oven and put the temperature at 400%.
8. Cook both items in oven turning both over once halfway through until done. The whole process takes about 20 minutes, with the bacon usually finishing before the chicken.
9. Remove both items from the oven and remove the bacon from the apple pieces, crumble it, and set aside.
10. At this point, the apples should be soft and a light golden color. Place the apple pieces back in the oven and cook until darker brown, about another 10 minutes, stirring them occasionally.
11. While the apples cook, shred chicken breasts with fork in the baking dish and let sit in any remaining liquid in the baking dish.
12. Remove apple pieces from oven and set aside to cool.
13. In large bowl combine both lettuces, cranberries, blueberries and pecan pieces.
14. In another bowl, combine remaining maple syrup, remaining apple cider, mustard, remaining dill, mayonnaise, bacon fat, and cider vinegar. Whisk until just combined. It will be a little runny but that's ok.
15. Toss cooled apple pieces in the bowl with lettuce mixture.
16. In separate individual bowls place salad/apple mixture and top with the shredded chicken and bacon crumbles. Finish the dish with as much dressing as you would like.

apples, ground black pepper, thyme, dill, bacon, maple syrup, apple cider, chicken breasts, baby spinach, cranberries, blueberries, pecan, mustard, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar

Taken from food52.com/recipes/8760-new-englandish-chicken-apple-bacon-salad (may not work)