This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
Easy, easy, easy. That’s the way I like to cook when I don’t have much time or I’d rather be chatting to my lovely family rather than being glued to the Aga. This scrummy one pot supper means I can stay as relaxed as everyone else who is going to tuck into it. For something that is so quick to prep, I must say I was pleasantly surprised at the number of compliments being muttered as everyone tucked in…
Sticky orange chicken with carrots, maple & pecans
Ingredients serves 4
2 blood oranges, 1 juiced, 1 thickly sliced
6 tbsp maple syrup
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp sherry vinegar
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
2 tbsp cranberry or redcurrant jelly, melted
4 carrots, quartered, peeled and the core cut out and discarded (or use can use parsnips if you prefer)
8 chicken thighs, skin on
280g small shallots, left whole but peeled
4 thyme sprigs, broken up a bit
50g pecans, barely chopped
How to prepare
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Juice 1 of the oranges and whisk together with the maple syrup, olive oil, vinegar, mustard and cranberry jelly. Cut the carrots into chunky lengths. Put the carrots, chicken thighs and shallots in a roasting tin – make sure everything can sit in a single layer but is quite snug. Drizzle over half the orange sauce with some seasoning and toss to coat everything. Roast for 35 mins.
Remove the tin from the oven and poke the orange slices in among everything. Scatter over the thyme and drizzle over the rest of the orange sauce. Roast for another 15 mins until the chicken is tender and cooked through, and everything is sticky and golden.
I had some kale handy, so chopped that up and added it, together with the pecans, and cooked for another 5 mins.
Serve straight away, remembering to scrape out all the sticky juices from the tin, and eat with a mixed leaf salad or a little rice.
Recipe adapted from Good Food magazine February 2015