Baked Orange Chicken

Baked Orange Chicken

• 1.5 pounds chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces (I used chicken breasts)
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• zest from one orange
• 6 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger (love the smell of this!!)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (which I left out because Hannah doesn’t like it!)

Coating for the Chicken

• 3 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup corn start
• 1/4 cup flour
• oil to cover bottom of jelly roll pan

For the sauce:  Put the chopped chicken in a ziploc bag.  To a saucepan, add broth, orange juice, zest, vinegar, soy suce, garlic, ginger and cayenne pepper.  Stir just until the sugar dissolves.  Take 3/4 cup of this mixture and add to chicken to marinate for at least 3o minutes, but no longer than 60 minutes.

Bring the remaining sauce to boil.  In a small bowl, mix the corn startch and cold water until well blended.  Whisk this mixture into the sauce and cook for 1 minute until thickened.  I then just put it on my “warm” burner for later.

Heat oven to 500 degrees.  Once heated, add a pan that can withstand that heat and heat the pan dry for 5 minutes.

Put the chicken in a strainer from the marinade.  Using paper towel, pat as dry as you can.  Add chicken to egg white mixture, then into cornstarch/flour mixture.  I basically just take the chicken and toss it back and forth in my hand to get all the excess off.

Pour enough oil in the bottom of your pan to cover – I used approximately 1/4 vegetable oil (DO NOT USE OLIVE OIL – THIS TEMPERATURE IS TOO HIGH FOR IT).  Add chicken to pan and cook for 5 minutes.  Flip and cook for five minutes more.  If using thigh, I would up the cook time to about 7 minutes per side, and it also depends on how big your “bite” sized pieces.

I had a hard time deconstructing this meal, but here’s my attempt: 3 oz. cooked chicken, 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, 1.5 cups stir fry vegetables, 2 mini egg rolls, 2 ounces sweet and sour sauce, 1/2 cup white rice, 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch.  So while this meal is quite high in calories and carbs, as a whole my day was right on track:

• 1409 calories
• 46 fat
• 95 protein
• 159 carbs
• 16 fiber

29% of calories from fat, 27% of calories from protein and 45% of calories from carbohydrates.

So since today is Ash Wednesday – no meat for Tony!   I originally put chicken egg rolls in my cart but quickly remembered no meat for Tony and switched them to what I thought was vegetable egg rolls.  Again, it helps to read ALL the words!

So I remembered that I had crab cakes that I didn’t cook up from New Years Eve and made those for Tony instead of spring rolls.

When I picked up an Ahi Tuna steak for him, the butcher asked if I wanted any kind of marinade.  I looked and saw they had teryaki and decided to try it.  I left it in the marinade for about an hour before cooking it.  I rolled the sides in a mixture of black and white sesame seeds.  Tony likes his REALLY rare, so I put my cast iron skillet on high, add a splash of oil and pan sear it for EXACTLY one minute on either side.  He loved it!

So its been a long day, so I am off to catch up on last night and tonight’s Biggest Loser.  I am taping American Idol to watch over the weekend.  Now that Danny has officially made it to the top 12, I can wait to see it!  Night all, see you in the morning!