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Keeping On With Chicken – Soy-Glazed Chicken with Asparagus and Scallions

In keeping up with the trend of a number of the chicken recipes that I have tried lately, this one was one of my personal favorites. I had seen this recipe in the last issue of Bon Appetit magazine and it sounded so delicious and made use of some great ingredients that I absolutely had to give it a try. While the original recipe calls for just using chicken thighs, I had a mix of thighs and drumsticks available to use so I made a little bit of both for us to have for dinner that night. This recipe for sot-glazed chicken with asparagus and scallions is easy enough to make for a weeknight meal and elegant enough for whenever you might be entertaining or want a meal that looks as great as it tastes.

Soy-Glazed Chicken with Asparagus and Scallions

2 teaspoons aniseed

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey

8 chicken thighs (about 4 pounds)

1 bunch asparagus (about 3/4 pound), trimmed

2 bunches scallions, trimmed

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves with tender stems

Toast the aniseed in a small dry skillet over medium heat, tossing frequently and watching to make sure it does not burn, until the aniseed is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Let the aniseed cool and then finely chop it.

Whisk the garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, honey and the chopped aniseed together in a large bowl. Add the chicken pieces and toss the mixture to coat the chicken well. Allow the chicken to sit in the marinade for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Transfer the chicken and the marinade to a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet, making sure to place the chicken skin side down on the foil. Roast the chicken until the fat begins to render, about 15 to 20 minutes. Turn the chicken skin side up and continue to roast it, basting the chicken occasionally with the pan drippings, until the chicken is cooked through and deeply browned, about 15 to 20 minutes longer.

After turning the chicken, toss the asparagus and the scallions with the vegetable oil on another rimmed baking sheet. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables, shaking the pan about halfway through the cooking process, until the vegetables are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. If you have thinner stalks of asparagus or scallions, they will cook more quickly and will be done faster.

Transfer the chicken to a platter. Pour any pan juices into a glass measuring cup. Let the juices sit for a few minutes and then spoon the fat from the surface of the juices. Spoon the pan juices over the chicken and serve the chicken with the asparagus, scallions, cilantro and lime wedges.

You can always begin marinating the chicken a day ahead and simply cover the bowl and store it in the refrigerator until the next day if you want even deeper flavors. I did not have aniseed on hand but substituted fennel seed instead and got that licorice flavor that you get from either herb, so I think it worked well.The marinade is wonderful and imparts incredible flavor to the chicken thanks to the combination of the soy sauce, honey, aniseed and lime juice. I love roasted asparagus as well and with the scallions together they just seem to go really well with the chicken. It’s a great dinner that you can do in just over an hour and you get this deep brown chicken with amazing flavor and the house smells great while it is cooking.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

A Honey of a Recipe – Honey Chili Beer Chicken

19 May

With the prices of just about everything else going up at the grocery stores, chicken is one of the few things that has remained reasonable for some of the pieces. Boneless chicken breasts remain high-priced, in my opinion, but you can get legs and thighs for a very good price, bone-in breasts are reasonable, and you can always get a whole chicken and cut it up yourself to get several meals out of it and then some stock as well. In any case, I have been stocking up on legs and thighs lately so I have also been scouring around looking for new recipes to try to get some different tastes and flavors so it doesn’t seem like we are eating the same thing several times a week. I cam across this recipe on the Internet not long ago from The Beeroness for a honey chili beer chicken that looked great, so I thought I would give it a try.

Honey Chili Beer Chicken

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup sliced onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup brown ale, divided in half

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon red chili sauce (such as Sriracha), plus additional if desired

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1-2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

In a cast iron skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the onions and caramelize the onions over medium heat, mixing occasionally, until the onions are a nice golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and then add 1/2 cup of the brown ale, the balsamic vinegar, the honey and the chili sauce. Simmer the mixture until it is reduced and thickened, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the sauce from the pan and set the sauce aside.

Sprinkle the chicken thighs on all sides with the salt, pepper and all-purpose flour to coat the thighs well. Increase the heat of the stovetop to medium-high, place the chicken thighs in the now-empty cast iron skillet and cook the chicken thighs until they are browned on all sides, about 3 minutes per side.

Pour the sauce back into the cast iron skillet with the chicken along with the remaining 1/2 cup of the brown ale. Cover the skillet loosely with a lid, lower the heat of the stovetop to maintain a simmer in the skillet and allow the chicken to cook until the chicken thighs are cooked through, about 10 to 12 minutes, turning the chicken once during the cooking process. Remove the chicken and sauce to a platter and serve.

The sauce that you make with this chicken is really good. You get a great combination of flavors from the brown ale, the balsamic and the honey and a little bit of heat from the chili sauce to round it all out. Add in the sweetness of the caramelized onions and it seems just perfect. I am sure you could do this meal with boneless chicken breasts if you wanted to or even just make the sauce to use over something like chicken wings or drumsticks and get the same great results. The sauce might even go well with some pork chops if you wanted to give that a try as well. It was a quick, easy way to make good use of chicken and gives you some great options when you are looking for something different to try for your meal. I used a lighter ale than the recipe called for, Smithwick’s, because that is what I had on hand, but I think you could use just about any type of ale and it would work well here.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. I have lots of things I have tried lately, including a bunch of chicken recipes, and I just got the latest issue of Cook’s Country (my personal favorite cooking magazine) and it has some great chicken recipes to try along with some other great options, so I will be giving a bunch of those a shot as well. until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on May 19, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Poultry, Sauce

Tags: chicken recipes, chicken thigh recipes, chicken thighs, honey chili beer chicken, honey chili beer sauce, The Beeroness honey chili beer chicken

It’s a Chicken Invasion! Part One – Bourbon Glazed Chicken

27 Jan

It seems like every time I go to the grocery store lately for the last few weeks there is chicken on sale and I come home with a lot of it. We have been making a lot of chicken lately and cutting back on red meat where we can to try to be a little healthier and let’s face it – no matter where I seem to shop lately beef is very expensive so we may as well have some poultry. I have a lot of chicken recipes to use, so there is always plenty for me to try, so we’ll be doing chicken recipes all week this week. First up was a simple dish that I saw from Bon Appetit that they actually use for their wings but I simply adapted it to use with chicken thighs and drumsticks instead. It is for bourbon glazed chicken and the glaze tastes delicious.

Bourbon Glazed Chicken

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

3 garlic cloves, peeled, thinly sliced

1 cup bourbon, divided

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup hot sauce

1/4 cup tomato paste

3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

4 pounds bone-in chicken parts (thighs, drumsticks and wings)

Melt the butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic and saute until golden brown, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add 3/4 of a cup of the bourbon and boil the mixture until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 6 to 8 minutes. Whisk in the remaining 1/4 cup of the bourbon, the ketchup, hot sauce, tomato paste, and the brown sugar until it is well blended. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Season the marinade with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the marinade from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature.

Place the chicken parts in a large glass baking dish or roasting pan. Pour the marinade over the chicken parts and turn the chicken to well coat it. Cover the chicken and refrigerate it overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil or with parchment paper. Place a cooling rack on top of the prepared baking sheet. Arrange the chicken pieces on the cooling rack, spacing each piece slightly apart. Spread any of the remaining marinade from the dish over the chicken parts. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Bake the chicken on the cooling rack in the baking sheet until the parts are cooked through and an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh registers 165 degrees and the skin is browned, about 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and serve.

I can see that this recipe would work really well with chicken wings and I think it tasted great with the chicken parts. The bourbon gave a nice sweetness and with the brown sugar, the ketchup and the hot sauce it was like a nice barbecue sauce with a little heat and sweetness. I would certainly use this recipe again for any chicken parts. It might even be better if you can use it on the grill. Marinading it really makes a big difference with this one as it really enhances the flavor, so let it sit overnight if you can. I served the chicken with some wild rice and fresh green beans.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time to see the next chicken recipe. until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!