Thursday, August 30, 2012

Fusion Roasted Chicken & Kale

Since my post was, well, lack there of yesterday I'm dishing out an extra special one with a tasty dinner you can make at home!  I call this dish fusion roasted chicken & kale, mostly because I think it makes it sound more chi-chi but really it's more comfort food than anything.  Using some tasty hawaiian salt, garlic, honey, soy sauce & olive oil (read: a sauce that I stole from my sister-in-law, Dulcie) this speaks fusion-eese to me. 

Read on for my pics & the full recipe!

Disclaimer: Dulcie, I hope I didn't butcher what I remember to be in your sauce recipe too much :) xo

Roasted Chicken Thighs Ingredient
  • 4 organic* chicken thighs, skin on & bones in (*i opt for less mystery in my meat, so if you can, go organic)
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled & halved
  • hawaiian salt (I need to order more of this stuff, our stash from our honeymoon is just about depleted), crushed with mortar & pestal until fine
  • black pepper
  • olive oil

Make it!
  1. Preheat oven to 475°.
  2. Season chicken liberally with salt & pepper.
  3. Heat oil coat the bottom of heavy nonstick skillet with olive oil over high heat until hot but not smoking.
  4. Nestle chicken in skillet, skin side down, & cook 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high; continue cooking skin side down.  You may need to rearrange the chicken thighs & rotate them in the pan to evenly distribute heat, until fat renders and skin is golden brown, about 12 minutes. Transfer skillet to oven & cook 13 more minutes. Using tongs flip chicken; continue cooking until skin crisps and meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes longer.
  5. Transfer to a plate; let rest 5 minutes before serving.






Fusion Sauce
  • 1/4 cup lite soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

Make it!
  1. Heat all ingredients in a small sauce pan over low heat until it bubbles.
  2. Whisk it all together.
  3. Remove from heat & let cool a bit.
Steamed Kale Ingredients:
  • 6 cups chopped kale (this stuff cooks down a lot so you may even need more!)
  • 1/2 cup chicken or veggie stock
  • hawaiian salt
  • black pepper

Make it!
  1. In a large pot over low heat add chicken stock, kale, salt & pepper, & cover. Note: if you've underestimated the size of kale for the too-small pot you selected (like I did) just add it in batches no one will know, just cook it down until there's enough room to make more.
  2. Cook until the leaves turn bright green & are tender.
  3. Toss with 1/4 cup of your fusion sauce.
Putting it all together:
Create a large bed of kale for you chicken thick to rest on.  Top your chicken thigh with a tablespoon or two of the fusion sauce (& if you really want to get fancy sprinkle some chopped parsley over top).

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