Sweet Orange Chicken with Wild Rice and Baked Garlic

This recipe is funny because I was looking for some pineapple to marinate my chicken in (I was loosely planning to make teriyaki sauce) and all I had was orange juice, which sounded interesting.... next thing I know I made a pretty delicious meal.  To make teriyaki sauce I mix equal parts soy sauce, pineapple juice, and mirin with a few spoonfuls of brown sugar and a lot of garlic.  So for this recipe I substituted the pineapple juice for orange juice (I added extra orange juice), and I like it better!  Much better!  Here is the recipe. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Sweet Orange Chicken with Wild Rice and Baked Garlic
Serves 3-4

6-8 chicken thighs
1-2 cups uncooked wild rice
2 baby oranges
3-4 heads of garlic for baking (1 for each person you are serving, assuming they like garlic)
 
Sweet Orange Marinade:
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4-1/2 cup mirin
2 TBS brown sugar
6+ cloves of garlic, pressed

Follow directions on wild rice and begin cooking it, It will take roughly 45 minutes to cook.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix all of the marinade ingredients thoroughly with a fork.  Add chicken to marinade, flipping chicken to make sure you have both sides covered in the sauce.  I like to cook it with the bumpy side up, as the smooth side tends to dry out faster.

Place chicken in oven. You can cover the chicken with aluminum foil if you like.  It will make it more tender, but it will also cook faster.  Cooking time will depending on the size of your chicken thighs (hehe) and the amount of marinade you have.  Assume it will take at least 20 minutes, and check every 5 minutes after that.

Cook the whole garlic heads at the same time you cook the chicken, although the garlic will probably be done sooner than the chicken.  Place garlic in a pie dish and cover it with olive oil.  Cook for 20-30 minutes.

Serve chicken on a bed of wild rice topped with chopped baby oranges.  Give each guest a baked garlic and green salad. 

Velbekomme!

Seafood Pesto Penne with Carmelized Onions

Alright, the recipe title is a mouthful!  It is also a yummy mouthful.  I finally made it to Trader Joe's over the weekend.  I say finally because living on an island without a TJs I don't usually make the trek to the mainland just to go there.  While I was on the other side of the water, I picked up some of my favorites: brown rice penne pasta, pesto, kalamata olives, and TJ's frozen seafood mix (shrimp, calamari rings, bay scallops).  This recipe was the result, something I thought that the kids would also enjoy.  And they did.  It would be especially delicious with homemade pesto or nettle pesto.


Seafood Pesto Penne with Carmelized Onions
Serves 4

Brown rice penne pasta (Trader Joe's) or any penne pasta
1/2 package of Trader Joe's Seafood Blend, or 1/2 pound of shrimp, Calamari, or Scallops
4 oz of pesto
1-2 heads of broccoli
1 large white onion
pitted Kalamata olives, a few handfuls
olive oil for cooking

Begin by heating a cast iron pan on medium heat.  When the pan is hot, add a dash of olive oil and chopped onions, stir occasionally to evenly brown them.  Cover.  Begin to boil water for penne pasta.  Follow directions on package, set aside when done and mix pesto in with noodles.  Start adding pesto conservatively, and add more as needed.

When onions are browned and softened, add chopped broccoli stir and cover.  Stir occasionally to evenly cook.  When the broccoli is about halfway done add the seafood.  Stir occasionally until seafood and broccoli is done to your liking. The seafood cooks quickly.

Serve pesto noodles with stir fried onions, broccoli and seafood.  Top with some kalamata olives.

Buon appetito!