Tuesday 28 January 2014

Calamondin chicken

I was away for the weekend on a dance intensive, so I missed my usual Saturday morning trawl through the Guardian's online food pages. When I had a chance to catch up yesterday, I found that Yotam Ottolenghi had written a fabulous-sounding recipe for guinea fowl with seville oranges.

I didn't have guinea fowl, but I did have chicken legs and the two herbs the recipe calls for are the two that we have growing rampantly in the garden. So with some other adaptations (i.e not using fennel because cooked fennel is 'orrible) there was a plan for dinner.

Calamondin chicken (serves 2)

150g calamondin & cointreau marmalade
2 large green chillies, cut into chunks
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
2tbs dijon mustard
2 tbsp olive oil
4 chicken legs (the marinade makes quite a lot so I could have done 6-8, I think)
6 frozen calamondins, halved
2 onions, peeled and quartered
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
Sprig of rosemary
Sprig of sage

Whisk together the first six ingredients in a large bowl. Add the chicken and stir well. Add the remaining ingredients, stir gently, then cover with clingfilm and marinade for a couple of hours.

Heat the oven to 180C fanforced. Line a roasting tin with foil and tip everything out of the bowl into it, spreading things out into a single layer. Roast for 45 minutes - an hour, turning the chicken and basting a couple of times, until the meat is golden brown and falling from the bones and the onions are thoroughly cooked. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for five minutes before serving with rice and vegetables.

The calamondin halves were tender and sweet enough to eat whole, the flavours were a delicious balance between sweet, sour, spicy (those green chillies pack a punch) and savoury and the chicken was extremely tender. Definitely one to try again, but next time I may do it with duck legs.

4 comments:

leaf (the indolent cook) said...

Such an interesting combination! Looks super juicy.

Suelle said...

I've saved the recipe to try, so I'm pleased it got your approval! Like you, I'd have to leave out the fennel.

Joanne said...

What a lovely dish! All of these flavors together sound quite delicious.

grace said...

chicken is much better than guinea fowl anyway! nice recipe. :)

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