This was quite good. The chicken cooked up nice and tender and the sauce was lovely.

Recipe as written, it calls for using skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs. And, since I was able to find some on sale, that's what I used this time. That said, I think this would also work well with a whole chicken, cut up into parts. It might also be interesting to try it with chicken breasts instead of thighs sometime. I think you'd still want to go with skin-on breasts, since you get a lot of flavour from the rendered schmaltz. (Yes, you pour most of it off before making the sauce, but it still adds good flavour and helps make a nice fond.) Basically, as long as you have at least 1300g of chicken with the skin on, I don't think it matters too much which parts you're using. Personally, I'd go with breasts and/or thighs over drumsticks or wings, but... follow your heart!

Oh, and one more thing... I couldn't find any tangerines at the grocery store, so I ended up having to substitute clementines. I don't know if my clementines were unusually small/un-juicy or if tangerines are normally significantly juicier or what, but I found that I needed way more clementines than the recipe called for tangerines. I suggests two tangerines and indicates that they should yield ~1/2 c. of juice. I found that I needed five clementines to get that amount of juice. And, since I figured that the flavour of the clementines might be a bit milder than the tangerines, I decided to use the zest of all five as well. I'm happy with the results that I got. So, in future, I think I'll just do the same and keep zesting and juicing until I get 1/2 c. rather than relying on using a specific number of fruit.

Photo goes here.

Braised Chicken with Tangerine and Star Anise

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2-6 tangerines
• 1.3kg (~3lbs.) skin-on bone-in chicken pieces (preferably thighs)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 c. chicken stock
• 2 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp. Sriracha (or similar hot sauce)
• 2-3 whole star anise
• 2 tsp. cornstarch (cornflour)
• 1 Tbsp. water

Directions

1. Zest and juice enough of the tangerines to produce 1/2 c. of juice. Set aside.
2. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper.
3. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
4. Add the chicken, skin-side-down, and sear until skin is crispy and fat has rendered (~10 minutes).
5. Flip and sear briefly on the other side (~5 minutes).
6. Transfer chicken to plate and drain off most of the fat. (Leave 1-2 tsp. in the pot.)
7. Return pot to medium heat and add the onion.
8. Cook, scraping the bottom of the pan, until onion softens (~4 minutes).
9. Add the garlic, ginger paste, and half of the tangerine zest and cook for another minute or so.
10. Add the chicken stock, tangerine juice, soy sauce, Sriracha, and star anise and bring to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pot.
11. Return chicken to pot, skin-side-up, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is cooked through (~25 minutes).
12. Transfer chicken to a serving dish.
13. Bring sauce to a boil.
14. Whisk cornstarch into water and then mix the slurry into the boiling sauce.
15. Continue cooking for another minute or two until sauce thickens.
16. Pour sauce over chicken, sprinkle with remaining tangerine zest, and serve.