Favorite Recipe of the Week 1

With our new eating habits, we've been branching out and trying new recipes like crazy. I decided it would be fun to share our favorite recipe of the week here each weekend. We'll see if the 'tradition' lasts till next week. :)

This week's winner:

PINEAPPLE-GLAZED CHICKEN THIGHS

Shown here with Broccoli in spicy orange sauce. Also a good recipe, though I over cooked the broccoli a bit, so it wasn't on it's 'A' game today. Maybe it'll make the favorite recipe of the week yet, someday after I buy a steamer insert for my pot so it doesn't get so soggy while cooking.

Both recipes came from "The Mayo Clinic Williams Sonoma Cookbook- Simple Solutions for Eating Well"

Jason prefers boneless chicken breasts to any other cut of chicken, so it was a real treat to me to eat bone in thighs-my favorite. Since Jason's preference is the more healthful of the two, we usually eat chicken breast, and the recipe may work with with it, but I will always prefer thighs. They're so succulent (because they contain twice the fat as white meat). Sigh. Compared to red meat, they're still amazingly good for the body, though. :)

So-on with the recipe!

Serves: 6 Prep: 10 min Cooking: 18 minutes (It took me more like 40 minute total-I guess I'm just a slow chicken de-skinner and de-fatter.) :)

Ingredients:

6 skinless, bone-in chicken thighs, 5 oz each, trimmed of visible fat

3 inch piece fresh ginger, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices (fresh ginger is amazingly cheap for something I always thought was an elegant pantry item-comparable to fresh garlic in price)

2/3 cup pineapple juice

2 T reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 T sesame seeds (I left these out 'cause they're not in my every day pantry...didn't miss 'em)

1 cup pineapple chunks

3 green onions, thinly sliced, including the green portions

1) Coat a large nonstick frying pan with nonstick cooking spray and place over medium heat. Add the chicken and ginger and cook, turning the chicken every few minutes, until the chicken is well browned on both sides, about 10 minutes.

2) In a small bowl, stir together the pineapple juice and soy sauce. Pour into frying pan and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Uncover and add the sesame seeds and pineapple chunks. Continue cooking, turning the chicken occasionally, until it is opaque throughout and the liquid remaining in the pan has reduced to a glaze, about 5 minutes. (I ended up having to add more pineapple juice to keep the glaze from just crusting onto the pan while I waited for the chicken to cook through...maybe I didn't turn them often enough, or maybe too much...who knows!)

3)To serve, arrange the chicken, ginger, and pineapple on a large platter. Spoon an equal amount of glaze over each piece of chicken. Garnish with the green onions.

Yum! Two Splendiferous Thumbs up!