Elevate your dinner with Simon Gault’s Honey Chicken. A medley of flavours from honey, citrus, and spices, it’s a dish that’s as complex as it is comforting.
› 6 Chicken Marylands
› 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
› 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
› 1 large onion, diced
› 2 stalks celery, diced
› 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
› 1 stalk lemongrass, roughly chopped and smashed
› 8 Kaffir lime leaves
› zest from 1 lemon
› zest and juice from 1 orange
› handful of basil leaves
› 3 bay leaves
› 150 grams liquid honey
› 1 tbsp turmeric
› 1 tsp smoked paprika
› 500 ml orange juice
› 500 ml chicken stock
› 1 tsp salt
Preheat your oven to 180°C.
Start by trimming any excess fat from the chicken Marylands.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Brown both sides of the chicken Marylands in batches, ensuring not to crowd the pan. Transfer the browned chicken to a roasting dish, placing them evenly spaced and skin-side up.
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the remaining olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced carrot, onion, and garlic, and sauté (stir-fry) for 5 minutes.
Add the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, lemon zest, basil, and bay leaves to the saucepan and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Stir in the honey, turmeric, smoked paprika, orange juice, chicken stock, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil.
Pour the hot sauce over the chicken Marylands in the roasting dish, ensuring that the chicken is completely submerged. Cover the dish with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes.
Remove the dish from the oven and allow the chicken to cool in the roasting dish.
Once the dish reaches room temperature, carefully remove the chicken Marylands and clean away any herb or vegetable residue clinging to the chicken. (Reserve the kaffir lime leaves for garnish.)
Strain the remaining liquid through a fine sieve into a saucepan and reduce it by two-thirds or until you achieve your desired consistency. If necessary, mix 1 tablespoon of cornflour with 1 tablespoon of water and whisk it into the sauce to thicken. Adjust the seasoning if needed.
Just before serving, return the chicken Marylands to the now-reduced sauce and heat them through. Serve the chicken straight from the hot sauce over a warm couscous salad.
