Orange and Spice Chicken - Weekend Recipe

This recipe is quick and easy for a weeknight meal or simple weekend faire.  It is perfect served with a side of ancient grains or brown rice.  The orange gives it a brightness to make you think spring!

Summer Savory

You can omit the savory if you do not have any on hand, but this special herb is an excellent companion to chicken and a must-have for the home cook, so grow a bit yourself this year.  It is an easy herb to grow from seed.

Orange and Spice Chicken

• 3 oranges
• 
  1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 2 10 ounces package baby spinach
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper 
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast strips 
• 1 teaspoon savory
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:

Remove peel and white membrane from 1 of the oranges. Section orange and cut each section into thirds; set aside. Squeeze enough juice from the remaining oranges to measure 2/3 cup; set aside. In a 4-quart Dutch oven, heat 1 teaspoon of the oil over medium heat. Add spinach; cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or just until slightly wilted, stirring occasionally. Drain and transfer to 4 serving dishes or a serving platter. Cover and keep warm.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the 2/3 cup orange juice, soy sauce, honey, ginger, cornstarch, and crushed red pepper. Set aside.

Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper and savory. Wipe out Dutch oven with a paper towel. In Dutch oven, heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic; cook and stir for 30 seconds. Add chicken; cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Whisk orange juice mixture with cut oranges; add to chicken in Dutch oven. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more.

To serve, spoon chicken and mixture over Spinach with a side or grains or rice. Makes 4 servings.

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  

To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018, Recipe2019, or Recipe2020.

 
You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD for each month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2021 so you can find them all.

The themes are:
Jan 2021 – Baked Items
Feb 2021 – Breakfast Dishes
March 2021 – Italian Dishes
April 2021 - Chicken Recipes
May 2021 - Appetizers
June 2021 – Mediterranean Dishes
July 2021 – Pork Recipes
August 2021 - Seafood
September 2021 - Pizzas
October 2021 – Mexican Dishes
November 2021 - Cookies
December 2021 – Gift Recipes