Thursday, August 20, 2009

Rachael's Lemon Chicken


This is one of JT and my favorite recipes. The first time I made it, I was at the store, in the CHECKOUT line, when JT called and asked if I could make it. I was very hesitant. (Hey, the lines were long!) But am I ever glad I did? This is an Undomestic Kitchen staple now. JT even asked for it twice in one week once, which if you know him, means it's GOOD!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast or chicken tenders, cut into (Bitesize) chunks
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
  • Coarse salt
  • 2 tablespoons wok or vegetable oil, 2 turns of the pan (Rachael's preferred brand: House of Tsang)
  • 1 tablespoon (a splash) white or rice wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
  • 8 ounces (1 cup) prepared lemon curd
  • 1/4 cup hot water
  • 1 lemon, zested
  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced or 20 blades fresh chives, finely chopped

Directions

Coat the chunked chicken lightly in flour, seasoned with a little salt. Heat a large skillet or a wok-shaped nonstick pan over high heat. (I used EVOO because I wanted the chicken to stick a little bit to my pan. It's the best flavor in the dish!) Stir fry chicken until golden, 3 or 4 minutes. Remove chicken from the pan and return pan to heat. Reduce heat to medium.

Add a splash of vinegar to the pan and let it evaporate. Add stock or broth to the pan and scrape up any drippings with a whisk. (Like I said, this is the best taste in the whole dish.) Thin curd by stirring in a little hot water. (I whisked mine with a fork to thin it up) Add curd to broth and whisk to combine. Add chicken back to the pan and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes to thicken sauce and finish cooking chicken pieces through. Remove the pan from heat, add the scallions or chives and zest, and toss chicken pieces well to combine zest and scallions or chives evenly throughout the sauce.

Rachael's Notes: Wok oil infused with ginger and garlic is usually available on the International Foods aisle in many markets.

Chicken broths and stocks are available in resealable paper containers, making storage of remaining product easy and on hand in the refrigerator; they are found in the soup aisle.

Lemon curd is a sweet lemon spread available in most markets. It is on the jam/jelly aisle. (I wouldn't have known!)

I serve this over brown rice or couscous that I've added some chopped scallions to. With each bite, you get a punch of sweet lemony flavor rounded off nicely by the chicken flavor and topped with an greenoniony zing. I love it!

2 comments:

  1. WOW (impressed look). Your Lemon Chicken looks so yummy.

    Here I bought a sauce pack for Lemon Chicken so as to skip all the seasonings! and i will try this friday after work.
    http://yummiexpress.freetzi.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oooh, that's sounds wonderful! I think I will give that a try!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...