GRILLED CHICKEN WITH CITRUS MARMALADE

An interesting way of combining lime, tangerine, and kumquat marmalade into something that’s not dessert…

What a nice day to start a new recipe. I guess some things are supposed to be created out of mistakes and randomness. And I was just about to tell you one of those “successful” mistakes of mine. I came down to the little kitchen in the house at 11am in the morning to make some late morning breakfast and was all freaked out to find out I had left the frozen chicken thighs out all night. But the good thing was that the chicken just finished unfreezing. One of my housemates was actually kind enough to put the chicken bag in a pan to stop the bloody liquid to spread all over the kitchen counter. I always thought I was lucky to have nice and fun housemates like they are.

I had told my friend a little joke the night before that I was going to make some chicken dish with the tangerine juice and the marmalade, and she thought I was insane. It was surprising that the story kept clinging in my head after I saw the chicken this morning, so in a wild moment I decided to go with it. The result came out pleasantly amazing and I was rewarded with a very nicely prepared dinner of grilled chicken and mixed noodles hi`hi`. It is in fact good to use citrus juice to marinate the meat, since the acid in the juice will help reduce and burn the fat in the meat, and also makes the meat so tender and juicy. Plus, in this recipe I also put in some mixed herbs and a bit of sugar to balance out the sour taste and give the chicken a warm and refreshing scent.

This summer has been good and full of surprises ^^. And here is that “wild” recipe of mine 🙂

Servings: 2
Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 1hr 30mins

Ingredients

For marinate:
– Juice of half a lime
– 2 tbsp of olive oil + 1 tsp of sesame oil
– 8 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
– 1/2 tsp of salt
– 1/2 tsp of sugar
– 1/2 tsp of pepper
– 1 tsp of italian seasoning (a mix rosemary, thyme, taragon, sage. This can be bought in a supermarket, dried and pre-mixed)
– Juice of half a tangerine
– 1 tbsp of soy sauce
– 3 tbsp of kumquat honey marmalade

Other ingredients:
– 4 rounds of flat egg noodle
– 2 chicken thighs
– Some veggie, cut into rather large pieces (carot, celery, greens)

Process:

– Mix all the marinate ingredients above together, except for the last three.

– Put the chicken pieces into a zip bag and pour in the mixed marinate. Put the bag in the freezer for the marinate to sip into the meat and let the meat firm up.

– Preheat the oven to 325F or 160C

– Take the chicken out and arrange on a baking tray, skin side up. Remember to also put the garlic cloves in the tray.

– Pour the tangerine juice on top of the chicken skin, then spread a thin layer of marmalade all over the chicken surface, and finish up the preparation with a sprinkle of soysauce.

– Bake the chicken (still frozen) in 325F for 1 hr and 20 mins.

– Cook the noodle rounds in boiling water, save aside. Also blanche (quickly boil) the veggie in the noodle water.

– After the chicken is done, take out as much fat as possible away from the gravy, and use the sieve to strain and smooth out the gravy sauce, also crush the softened garlic cloves in the sieve for excess juice and flavor.

– Mix the noodles with the gravy sauce, season to taste.

– Serve the chicken with gravy covered noodles and some veggie on the side.

Notes:

– I would recommend using a tin foil at the bottom of the tray so the burned parts wouldn’t stick on the tray and it will be easier to wash later. For this first time, I used a cookie baking sheet instead. it turned out well that there wa not burned part like there would be if I had used the tin foil. ^^

– It is not neccesary to put the marinated chicken in the freezer if you’re in a rush, but this step would enhance the flavour of the chicken.

– I was afraid that the heat was not hot enough that the chicken would end up steaming in the oven. However, I think because of the fact that the chicken thighs were not placed so close to each other, they ended up roasting beautifully

– This is the good part: If you have left over chicken but already used up the gravy, just mix the noodles with the juice of half a tangerine and some soy sauce, just to harmonize the taste of the chicken and the noodles. And also, tear the reheated chicken apart and mix only the meat in the noodles to have a nice and fabulous breakfast the morning after, not worrying about dirtying your hand while eating the first meal of the day.