Wednesday 25 May 2016

Chicken Laranja

People ask me, what do I eat?? So I thought I would share a couple of my favourite recipes. One at a time though, always leave them wanting more.....

Chicken Laranja

This is such a lovely dish, it is creamy and filling, both of which are hard to achieve in the fatless world. I'm not keen on chicken breast, which is extremely unfortunate for me, given my condition, but the biggest problem I have is how dry it can be, and sometimes bland. This dish successfully tackles both those issues and is a favourite among my 'normal' friends and family too.

The fat content per serving is 3.5g, carbs 4.6g of which sugars2.5g, protein 10.3g.

Ingredients: (serves 6)

600g chicken breast, cubed.
6 tablespoons ruby port.
600ml orange juice.
2 leeks, chopped.
4 teaspoons corn flour.
6 rounded tablespoons quark cheese.
Salt & pepper.

Method:

 

First, you want to pan fry the chicken. Here in LPLDland I use a metal pan with no non-stick coating, so I can scrape to my heart's content to get stuck food off. I don't use any oil or butter, but keep lemon juice handy if meat is getting stuck on. A good trick is to hold the pan under running water for a few seconds, then shake off the excess. Put it on to heat up and throw the meat in just as the water starts to evaporate off. There's enough in there to avoid sticking and not enough to take away the browning effect. If you're cooking for someone else, do it in butter. Please. If they deserve your cooking, they deserve butter fried chicken. There goes my Pavlov reaction....


So, fry until browned all over, stirring to avoid sticking. Then pour in the port. The original recipe said brandy, which probably makes much more sense to you foodies out there, but out here in the Algarve I have uncommon trouble finding it, so I tried something that is plentiful! I really like it with the port as it gives the chicken a red tinge, makes it look a bit more exotic ;).

Next, pour in the orange juice, mix it up a bit and add the leek. Bring it all to the boil, cover and simmer for 5ish minutes.

In a separate couple of containers, blend the corn flour with as little water as you can, then add it to the quark, mixing well until you have a smooth consistency. It is worth mentioning at this point that you can also use fromage frais, yoghurt or if you're treating someone else, cream! I find the low, low fat quark from Lidl is a great consistency and is the lowest fat option.

Put your chicken onto a medium to high flame and get your whisk out. The key to low fat sauces is not getting it too hot too quickly. The quark, or whichever low fat option you are trying, has a tendency to go grainy if it's not carefully mixed in. So pour it in slowly, whisking as you go. I will get a second pan and tip the sauce from the chicken into it leaving the solids behind in order to have maximum whisking capability, and then pour the new sauce back into the chicken. Don't let it boil until you are sure it is as smooth as you can make it.

Then that's it! I leave it in the pan on low while I cook the pasta, rice, potatoes or my personal favourite, gnocchi, to serve with it. I always serve this dish with a hottish citrus salsa, which is mega easy, but combats the sweetness of the sauce with a tangy zip. Here's how to make it:


Ingredients:

4 oranges.
2 green or pink apples.
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic paste.
2 tablespoons mint sauce.
Juice of 1 lemon, maybe a bit more.
Whichever hot concoction floats your boat.
Salt & pepper.

Method:

 

Peel your oranges, getting as much pith off as possible. Chop 'em up small and throw them in a bowl. Chop us your apple, after coring it and optionally peeling it. I use Pink Ladies, and I like to keep the peel on as it adds extra crunch, but it's your meal, you do your thing. Throw it in.

Add the garlic. I use garlic paste, it is wonderful stuff, but if you can't get it then I would go with a small clove, chopped up as small as you can do. Then add the mint sauce. I use a nice thick readymade one that comes from Iceland, or possibly Waitrose, our English shop sells both. If you are using fresh mint, or from a jar (I don't know the difference, but my mum used to mix it with vinegar and sugar when I was a kid) then experiment to find your optimum mintiness.

Add the lemon juice. All of these additives are done on a 'guide only' basis. I use enough lemon juice to water down the mint and garlic to spread evenly. You are aiming for being able to taste the mint and the garlic with a bias toward the mint, but you also want to taste the orange and apple! The amounts given should be more or less there, but you will want to taste test and tweak as necessary.

Don't forget to season. For hotidity, I use a lovely mix of chilli seeds, salt and bits and bobs that I found premixed in a mill. You can use chilli seeds, ground chilli, hot sauce such as Tabasco, whichever you are comfortable with. Or not, if you don't want to. I find that it needs a little bit of zap to counterbalance the chicken.

Let me know what you think!


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