Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Orange Glazed Chicken with Mint Whipped Feta

I love many things in life, and one of them is going out for lunch with a good friend.    It’s a bonus when it’s at one of my favorite restaurants.   Two Sisters opened their doors officially in Smithers last year and have been such a nice addition to the town.  I love that they use as much locally grown produce & meat and have such a great atmosphere.  The quality of the food there is simply amazing-wholesome, fresh & nutritious.  You add baked goods, fantastic coffee & cappuccino’s to the mixture and I have a difficult time staying away!   I swear I drool every time when they update their Facebook page to keep everyone posted on their food & dessert specials.

One of their lunch specials a few weeks ago was this amazing dish that I couldn’t stop thinking about-I loved how everything came together and complimented each other so well.  I had to have the recipe, or at least something similar.  So happy that I found something!  Yay! ^-^.  However, I would like to note that although blood oranges are so beautiful and highly sophisticated, they are slightly difficult to find in these neck of the woods, so I substituted them with cara cara oranges.  I loved the way they turned out even with adding a little more spice to the glaze.  I also discovered that while I didn't use a lot of the minted feta, a little bit went a long way.  I have plenty of it leftover so I've used it for salads.  All in all-a recipe in success. Now I'm confused to why I haven't tried this before!  Hope everyone has a wonderful week-Happy Wednesday! 

Orange Glazed Chicken with Mint Whipped Feta

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

For the chicken:

2 pounds drumsticks

Salt, black pepper

¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 ½ tablespoons honey

½ tablespoon orange zest (I used cara cara)

¼-½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

For the whipped feta:

¾ pound fresh feta, rinsed & crumbled

¼ cup extra virgin oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Black pepper

¼ chopped fresh mint

DIRECTIONS

For the chicken:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, then with parchment paper.

Pat the chicken drumsticks dry and season with salt and pepper. Arrange on a baking sheet for 45 minutes, turning halfway through.

In a small sized saucepan, combine the orange juice, zest, and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes (until reduced to ¼ cup). Remove from heat and set aside.

After the drumsticks have baked for 45 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and brush the drumsticks all over with the glaze. Return to oven and bake for 5 more minutes. Serve warm with Mint-Whipped Feta. (see below)

For the mint-whipped feta:

Put the crumbled feta, olive oil, lemon juice and pepper in a food processor. Process until smooth-it should look a bit like hummus. Add chopped mint; pulse a few times more to incorporate.

Source: slightly adapted from Food 52