The Sussex Newspaper - Great news for a great county!

Following on from my brief discussion on fruit recipes I have a truly aromatic recipe to tell you about and how I consider this to be a meal that is going to be in my household for the rest of my life. The recipe is named “Colombian lemon and orange chicken” that includes chicken, vegetables, fruit and rice. Every single element of this recipe is using fresh, well balanced ingredients that complement each other, but each one holds an individual part in making this dish a joy to be had.

This particular recipe is so simple to create, yet it is something of true beauty, that when I saw the list of ingredients and method, I knew instantly it was a meal that I would like to taste. It fitted the criteria I look for within food, cheap, easy to do, colourful and hopefully a taste like no other. I was slightly concerned how orange juice would work being cooked in the oven with the chicken and vegetables but my fears went unanswered when the smell and taste was revealed to me. The sauce was a steamed chicken/vegetable/sweet stock that really took me aback.

It was at the stage of smelling that I knew this recipe was going to be something very special and also very unique as I had not heard of any recipe that uses orange juice within cooking before. Once it came to the tasting stage I was simply blown away by its vegetable chicken sweetness. During the cooking period the vegetables had been placed in a roasting tray raw with the orange juice and chicken and had now become soft and steamed in the flavours of the other ingredients. It really woke me up to the varieties of flavours you can create if you are willing to try new foods, experiment, see what tastes you like and just go for it.

There is no limit to what you can create and produce within food, I searched for a recipe that would really wow me and make me want to cook, and I found that in abundance in this dish. This recipe I now consider to my be my favourite as it really is special, a dish that I am so glad to of found it and even more happy that I had to privilege in trying such a inspirational recipe.

Ingredients (To serve 2 people):

500gms of chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces.
The juice of 1/2 a lemon.
3/4 cup of orange juice.
1/2 large onion, chopped.
1/2 red pepper, chopped.
1/2 green pepper, chopped.
3/4 cup of pitted olives.
1 tablespoon of olive oil.
1/2 teaspoon of salt.
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
200gms of rice (100gms per person).

Method:
1. Place the bite size chicken pieces into a fridge safe container and pour over the lemon juice, mix well, making sure all chicken is coated. Put a lid on the container and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. ( Once you fry the chicken all the lemon juice will stay inside the chicken as during those 30 mins in the fridge the juice would have soaked completely into the chicken, so no need to worry it will seep out)
2. Preheat your oven to 180oc.
3.After 30 mins take the chicken out of the container and onto a plate. Get the cayenne, black pepper and salt and rub all of 3 of these evenly over the chicken.
4. Put the olive oil into a heated frying pan on a high heat and fry the chicken for around 5 mins to brown it.
5. Once the chicken is browned spread into a roasting dish including the oils from the frying pan, also place the red and green peppers, the olives, the onions and pour over the orange juice so you coat all the ingredients.
6. Wrap some foil over the top of the roasting dish to cover and then place into an oven for 50 minutes.
7. With 10 mins left cook the rice according to the packet instructions.
8. After 50 mins take out the roasting dish and serve with the cooked rice.

If you would like to see this recipe in more detail please visit: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.225250374159504.65988.194537623897446&type=1