delishulous orange chicken

warning: for better and for worse, this is not manchu wok's sticky, breaded, and deep-fried orange chicken!


i made a ridiculously delicious chicken dish last night and it's definitely worth sharing, particularly if you're trying to address these two key concerns:

1) will the chicken be cooked through? will it be dry?
i love preparing chicken in a slowcooker because i rarely have to worry about this.

2) will this hurt my stomach?
i live with people who can't handle a lot of "tasty" things: heat, exotic spices, onions, or excessively acidic ingredients can irritate the stomach or me hard to digest. it's been a challenge for me to find ways to make things that are healthy and tasty for them.

to solve this problem, we often rely on my favourite cut of chicken: the thighs. not only are they tasty but in this recipe they release a lot of moisture as they cook. in other words, they provide a delectable base for their own sauce. and, even though this dish has orange juice in it, the acid doesn't seem to survive the cooking process.

so, without further ado, i present a meal that feels bland to the tummy but yummy to the tongue!

the stuff:
- chicken thighs - boneless, skinless
- orange juice
- orange marmalade + sesame oil
- soy sauce + your favourite spice combo (i used garlic & herbs)
- flour + butter

the steps:
1) combine marmalade and sesame oil and slather onto the chicken.
2) place the meat into your slowcooker and add orange juice about two-thirds of the the way up the meat.
3) add a splash of soy sauce and a healthy pinch of your spices, then turn the slowcooker on high.
4) around the 2 hour mark, turn the slowcooker to low.
5) make a roux out of equal parts butter and flour. add liquid from the slowcooker to the roux, one ladle-full at a time, and combine well.
6) return thickened juices to the slowcooker and stir.
7) at this point i also added (frozen and defrosted) asparagus to the chicken, but you can use another vegetable (carrots would nice, i think!) or skip this entirely. if you're using fresh produce, think about adding it around the 1.5 hour mark so it has time to soften and soak up the juices. (let's call that step 3b.)

orangeyness is a very subjective thing, and you should figure out how much tang works for you. without too much figuring, the sauce came out sweet but not cloying and the chicken was hearty when served alongside some roasted zucchini and orange peppers (drizzled with sesame oil).

so yum! i need to start taking pictures again!