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.
I 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.
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.
Add the rub to the chicken and massage that into all of the nooks and crannies until well coated.
Then 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.
Then it’s easy, it goes into a preheated 350 degree oven and cook until toasty and brown. Always temp check your chicken!
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.
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!
Happy Easter, enjoy!