January in the Kitchen – Quick Roast Chicken with Citrus, Sumac, and Pomegranate

January in the Kitchen – Quick Roast Chicken with Citrus, Sumac, and Pomegranate

Roast Chicken with Citrus, Sumac and Pomegranate

This recipe is Florida in the middle of winter…sunny citrus, bright sumac, and pomegranate. It’s a winning combination and one that tugs at memories for me. Just out of college I moved from warm and sun-drenched Florida to New York in mid-January. It was quite a shock on many levels; living in a one-bedroom apartment with four other young women, the high cost of food, cold, and worst of all…no citrus. I grew to love New York, but citrus remained out of my price range at the local markets. My parents had seven trees of different varieties in their back yard in Florida. They were unusual varieties, the kind you don’t find in the store because they don’t ship well, the kind that were especially delicious. I craved them. The highlight of that first winter was the box of citrus shipped from home (at great expense). I was a good roomie and shared.

I didn’t spend much time cooking back then, but I would have loved this recipe.

Roast Chicken with Sumac, Pomegranate and Citrus

Roast Chicken with Sumac, Pomegranate and Citrus

If you are not familiar with sumac (it’s new to me and I am still experimenting), it’s related to poison ivy but won’t give you a rash. The powder I found at my local spice shop is staghorn sumac and is not poisonous. The berries are dried and ground before being sold. I have read that some companies add salt to their sumac, so read the package before you purchase it.

Sumac

Sumac

Sumac adds a lovely red color to food and is considered a “flavor enhancer”. It has a tart, berry, and lemony flavor and can be used in place of lemon when you want the flavor without the acid of citrus. It is known to have antimicrobial and antioxidant qualities as well as helping with digestion.

Sumac is most often used in Middle Eastern cooking. It’s a major part of the spice mix Za’atar, and sometimes used in fattoush and tabbouleh.

Chicken brush

  • 2 Tablespoons peanut oil
  • 2 Tablespoons pomegranate concentrate
  • 1 teaspoon sumac
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
Sumac, pomegranate brush for chicken

Sumac, pomegranate brush for chicken

  • 1 navel orange
  • 1 tangerine
  • ½ lemon
  • fresh sprigs of thyme and rosemary
  • 4 leg-thigh chicken quarters
  1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F (very hot)
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil
  3. Mix together the ingredients for the sauce or brush.
  4. Wash the citrus and then thinly slice it using a sharp knife or mandolin; you want slices about ¼ inch thick or less. Remove any seeds.
  5. Lay the citrus on the baking sheet. Try not to overlap the slices.
  6. Cut the legs from the thighs, making two pieces
  7. Place the chicken, skin side up, on top of the citrus slices.
  8. Brush the chicken with the sauce.
  9. Bake for 35 minutes or until the chicken is brown and cooked, and the citrus is caramelized.
  10. Serve with the citrus; the carmelized citrus is delicious, skin and all.
Roast Chicken with Sumac, Pomegranate and Citrus

Roast Chicken with Sumac, Pomegranate and Citrus

I think Angie at the Novice Gardener and her friends at Fiesta Friday will like this one.

Fiesta Friday

Fiesta Friday

December in the kitchen – Marmalade chicken

December in the kitchen – Marmalade chicken

I was all ready to create a new recipe tonight but ran out of steam, does that ever happen to you? So, what to do? I poked around in the pantry and fridge to discover what could be used as a quick, easy, hassle free “dress up” for the chicken thighs I had planned to cook. I found a jar of ginger marmalade and some whole grain mustard; together with some soy sauce they would make a simple glaze for the chicken. Three ingredients (not counting the chicken), what could be easier?

You could use any kind of marmalade you have on hand…ginger, orange or lemon. You could also use chicken breasts or legs or wings, I just happened to have thighs which are favored by my family.

Marmalade baked chicken

  • 1/2 cup of marmalade
  • 2 rounded teaspoons of Dijon mustard, regular or whole grain
  • 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
  • 6-8 chicken bone-in thighs, trimmed of excess skin and fat
marmalade baked chicken

marmalade baked chicken

  1. Melt the marmalade in a small saucepan or the microwave; mix with the mustard and soy sauce.
  2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
  3. Line a baking pan with foil, place some racks on top (I used cookie cooling racks). The racks will keep the thighs out of the melting fat below.
  4. Pat the thighs dry with paper towels, place them skin side up on the racks in the baking pan. Brush the marmalade mix over the skin and exposed meat.
  5. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour to 1 ½ hour depending on the size of the thighs.

 This is a perfect dish for a busy weekday evening. Bake some sweet potatoes in the oven with the chicken, make a salad and dinner is ready with a minimum of fuss and hands-on time.

baked chicken

Marmalade chicken

I made a lentil and cauliflower couscous to go with the chicken, look for that recipe on another post.

You could save the juices to use in soup or another dish. Pour the juices in the bottom of the pan into a large heatproof container and put it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, skim off the fat and discard it.

Tip – I keep the cans from tomatoes or other canned goods for discarding fat. Place the fat in the can, put the can in a plastic bag and put it in the trash. Plastic yogurt containers also work.

I’m taking this to Fiesta Friday to share with Angie from the Novice Gardener as well as Real Food Fridays hosted by Lydia’s Flexitarian Kitchen. This is the busy season for us all.

fiesta-friday-badge-button-i-party-1