Orange Ginger Chicken


Originally posted by Sarah – April 5, 2015Sunday Night Dinner – Orange Ginger Chicken

Happy Easter to all who celebrate!  We started the morning here at the Buck house with our annual egg hunt with the boys.  A busy day of celebration ends with a great meal.  Tonight I made an orange ginger chicken, a side of buttery corn and creamy herb fingerling potatoes (the same ones I made earlier on the blog, they were such a big hit they made another appearance tonight).  We ended this deliciousness with an apple crisp and vanilla ice cream.

This chicken is one that my father-in-law makes.  Start by rinsing the chicken inside and out, then pat it dry.  I used the last of my citrus for the juice my chicken actually cooks in.imageI put together the spices for the rub : brown sugar, ground ginger, coriander and salt.  My father-in-law doesn’t measure things so I use about a teaspoon each of salt and coriander, a Tablespoon of ground ginger and 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar.

image

Drizzle a bit of olive oil on the chicken and then rub it all over.  This gets a little messy.  Notice that I have put the chicken straight into a pan, no rack is used in this recipe.

imageAdd the rub to the chicken and massage that into all of the nooks and crannies until well coated.

image

imageThen I pour the fresh squeezed juice into the pan (not over the chicken) with some additional water, it’s about a half juice half water ratio.  I place the squeezed oranges, peel side down in the pan with the chicken.  As this cooks, orange oil is released into the liquid.  Yum.  I also cut two onions, one to go in the cavity of the chicken and one to quarter and go straight into the pan.

image

Then it’s easy, it goes into a preheated 350 degree oven and cook until toasty and brown.  Always temp check your chicken!

image

Then next part is the best, the gravy.  Use a whisk and scrape up any delicious bits from the bottom of the pan (this is called the fond).  I put all of the liquid through a strainer into a saucepan at this point.  Make it easy for yourself and remove the big pieces first.  The orange peels and onions have done their part.  

image

 

image

Next I  make a paste with equal parts cornstarch (you can also use flour) and butter.  Add this to the gravy and bring it to a boil, it will thicken. Then serve with the chicken.  This is a very flavorful gravy and an extremely moist chicken.  So good!  A great one for the whole family.  There is something about a roast chicken that is just so enjoyable.

Here is a shot of the apple crisp and ice cream for dessert.  I made this apple crisp in the fall and have had it in the deep freeze, pulled it out, baked it up and a perfect dessert to end a busy day.  I bet all 4 boys will be asleep early tonight!

image

 Happy Easter, enjoy!


About Sarah

Sarah is a trained chef and owner of Whisk Baked Goods. She lives in Chelmsford with her husband and two active boys. Sarah is passionate about food, loves eating local, and cooking gluten free foods.