Not Your Food Court Orange Chicken
Gloria Anzaldua, one of favorite Latina feminists, wrote an excellent book about surviving on the borderlands of America and Mexico. Every day, mental negotiations are made on how to live, love, eat, play, sleep and yes fuck because of these two dueling cultures. Nothing exemplifies this more than my old recipe for Blood Orange Chicken.
Not Your Food Court Orange Chicken
1 cup I.O ORGANICS Blood Orange Juice
4 chicken thighs ( bone in)
1 head of fresh broccoli
1.3 cup molasses
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
sea salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste
pinch of Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp ground Ginger
In a heavy duty enameled cast iron pan toss all ingredients and add chicken. It will be liquidy. Slowly roast uncovered at 350 degrees F until liquid starts to reduce and thicken. It will take approx 45 depending on your oven. At the 30 minute stage you can add Fresh Broccoli to the pan to roast in the liquids and with the chicken. When the chicken looks about done, you can turn up the oven temp to 475 to help the juices/liquid caramelize and glaze the chicken. Remove from oven and enjoy. Serve with rice.
I used to live in Platano City, NYC, so Dominican supermarkets are the mandate. Often, I’d order from FreshDirect or venture downtown and trek my groceries for other good food. That’s how I got my hands on organic Blood Orange Juice. In my old neighborhood , broccoli was an expensive commodity so that had to go as well as the Cayenne Powder.. Dominican brown sugar is less refined, darker and purer so that amped up the sweetness. And, normal molasses was out (Dominican version is so pure we use it for spiritual baths instead) so I replaced it with purified Sangria Gitano. It’s bottled Sangria that many Dominicans let dry out over a year to become really thick and sweet. The result filled the house with such a sweet smell for the whole day. It was smailes all arounfd for the boyrfriend and I.
Not Your Food Court Orange Chicken
1 cup I.O ORGANICS Blood Orange Juice
4 chicken thighs ( bone in)
1 head of fresh broccoli
1.3 cup molasses
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
sea salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste
pinch of Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp ground Ginger
In a heavy duty enameled cast iron pan toss all ingredients and add chicken. It will be liquidy. Slowly roast uncovered at 350 degrees F until liquid starts to reduce and thicken. It will take approx 45 depending on your oven. At the 30 minute stage you can add Fresh Broccoli to the pan to roast in the liquids and with the chicken. When the chicken looks about done, you can turn up the oven temp to 475 to help the juices/liquid caramelize and glaze the chicken. Remove from oven and enjoy. Serve with rice.
I used to live in Platano City, NYC, so Dominican supermarkets are the mandate. Often, I’d order from FreshDirect or venture downtown and trek my groceries for other good food. That’s how I got my hands on organic Blood Orange Juice. In my old neighborhood , broccoli was an expensive commodity so that had to go as well as the Cayenne Powder.. Dominican brown sugar is less refined, darker and purer so that amped up the sweetness. And, normal molasses was out (Dominican version is so pure we use it for spiritual baths instead) so I replaced it with purified Sangria Gitano. It’s bottled Sangria that many Dominicans let dry out over a year to become really thick and sweet. The result filled the house with such a sweet smell for the whole day. It was smailes all arounfd for the boyrfriend and I.