Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Chicken with Orange Sauce and Quick Rice Pilaf

I tried this recipe tonight and my husband sat down at the table and said, "Wow this looks fancy"... so it was nice to try something different with chicken other than just dunking it in barbecue sauce. I've tried a few different orange sauces that are either too light on the orange flavor or too heavy on other flavors- this one was just the right amount of orange and ginger.

Chicken with Ginger Orange Sauce
Recipe from A Peak at the Springs Cookbook

1 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp ginger
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
hot cooked rice (or rice pilaf below)

Combine the orange juice, vinegar, soy sauce, butter, sugar, cornstarch and ginger in a saucepan and mix well. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Place the chicken between two sheets of waxed paper or saran wrap and pound with a meat mallet until about 1/4 inch thick. Season with salt and pepper. Saute the chicken in the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through. Spoon over rice and top with the sauce.

Quick Rice Pilaf
Along with my two kids, I love this rice pilaf! It's so easy and you can change the seasonings depending on what you are cooking. I use chili powder with enchiladas, fajitas, etc. and I used garlic salt tonight with this dish and to also to use as leftovers to pair with sweet and sour chicken later this week. I love love love this recipe!

Quick Rice Pilaf
Recipe from Mel @ melskitchencafe

tablespoon canola oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 cup angel hair pasta, broken into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup rice
2 cups chicken broth (or make some with boullion cubes)
Seasonings to taste (1 tsp of chili powder, curry, garlic salt, etc.)

Brown onions, rice and angel hair pasta in the oil over medium-high heat. Cook until spaghetti is lightly browned. Add chicken stock (note: if you use jasmine rice, increase chicken stock to 2 1/2 cups instead of 2 cups) and seasonings and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Fluff and serve.

2 comments:

A.J. Dub. (Amy) said...

Are you supposed to used already cooked rice or Minute rice? Mine (raw regular white rice) was still totally crunchy. I had to add another round of chicken broth and cook with the lid on for a bit. It was good, but we still got the occasional uncooked piece of rice.

The orange chicken was good too. Just the right orange flavor. I have to cut the vinegar by half for my husband next time. Did you use white, or apple cider, or another vinegar?

Nicole said...

A.J. Dub-
Sorry your rice was still a bit crunchy...I've noticed if I cook mine too fast, or on too hot of heat it will soak up all of the liquid before the rice cooks. I use raw rice and I use Jasmine rice so I add an extra 1/2 cup of broth. Next time make sure you really just simmer on low for 20 minutes and that should be enough for it to cook all the rice. Hope that helps!