Saturday, April 24, 2010

My Your Thighs Look Tasty

So I'd had about 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs in my fridge, and really wanted to do something delicious with them. This is another case of It Was On Sale, Now What Do I Do With It?
With a little internet searching and a lot of exasperation, I came up with the following fabulous feast.

Tangy Asian-Inspired Chicken Thighs over Quinoa, with Honey-Ginger Glazed Carrots
YUM!
YUM to the TENTH DEGREE!!!
Did I mention how delicious this absurdly simple chicken recipe is?
Because it was supremely flavorful.

For the chicken thighs, the marinade/sauce is as follows:
3 TBSP honey
2 1/2 TBSP of soy sauce
3 grated/minced cloves of garlic
2 inches of fresh ginger, grated

No salt needed, due to the soy sauce. And do NOT substitute dried ginger for the fresh. It will not have anywhere near the same kick or flavor.

This created a rather thick sauce, so I rubbed it directly on the chicken thighs with my hands, to make sure it was evenly distributed. I covered the container with cling film and put it in the fridge to marinate for a few hours.

To cook, I placed the chicken thighs in a small amount of olive oil in a nonstick pan, cooking about 6 minutes on the first side, and maybe only 3 on the second. I was truly eye-balling this, and not watching the clock, so those numbers are estimations at best.
DO NOT WASTE THE MARINADE!!!
Once you have cooked all your chicken, pour/scrape the extra marinade into the frying pan and pick up all the brown bits from the pan and reduce until a pleasant color and consistency. Pour over chicken thighs.

For the carrots:
Four carrots, diced into equal sized sticks.
In a small sauce pan I put 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add to that 1 inch of freshly grated ginger, and about 4 tablespoons of honey. Melt together and stir.
Add 1/4 cup water, and then the carrots, and cook on medium-high for about 8 minutes, lid on, until carrots are tender. Then remove the lid and cook off liquids.
Carrots will come out supremely sweet and tender, with a gentle kick from the ginger.
Carrots at the boiling-off-the-liquid stage
For the Quinoa:
Follow package instructions. (2 cups water to 1 cup rinsed quinoa, bring to boil and them simmer 10-15 minutes.) I then add a pinch or two of salt and drizzle with olive oil. Maybe 2 tablespoons worth.
The quinoa was really just a healthy bed to place the chicken on.
Quinoa with all water absorbed and fluffed with a spoon.

Simple assembly on the plate, and I'm telling you, this chicken was ADDICTIVE. I'm so glad I made extra, because having it for lunch the next day was like reliving heaven.

Sure, I may have been burping tangy ginger breath the rest of the night (blamed on the bubbles from The Marquis, not the actual dish) but it was just so good!!!

Really, if you are reading this, you must try this soon. I will definitely be adding it to my regular dinner option routine.
(Note - this would also work beautifully on pork.)
Enjoy!
I certainly did.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I, too, have a whack of chicken thighs waiting to be turned into something yummy. I will try to make this soon and let you know how it turned out! Sounds yummy! :)

Erin said...

this is the first recipe where a) I have 99% of the ingredients already and b) I am confident my local walmart has the other 1%. Guess what's on the menu tonight? Thanks for posting!

Jordan said...

I love ginger! This looks so yummy! Can't wait to make(eat)

Chuck said...

This sounds dynamite but what exactly is 2 inches of ginger grated?