David Rubel's

What's For Dinner?

3/15/06

Orange-Roasted Chicken Thighs

(serves two adults and two children)

You want to use chicken thighs for this recipe because their dark meat stays moist and flavorful without the need for basting. I use boneless thighs, but the bone-in variety work just as well. They take a little longer to cook, however.

2 large navel oranges
1/4 c olive oil
pinch dried red pepper flakes (to taste)
1 1/2 lb boneless chicken thighs (or 3 lb bone-in thighs)
1 lb new potatoes or fingerlings
2 large red onions
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Wash the oranges well and zest both. Combine the zest with the olive oil and dried red pepper flakes. Let stand. Reserve the zested oranges.

3.Halve the potatoes. Cut the onions into wide rings and separate.

4. In a large roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet, toss the chicken, potatoes, and onion rings with the orange-infused oil. Add two of the rosemary sprigs. Salt to taste.

5. Roast until the chicken and potatoes are cooked, about 40 minutes (50 minutes if using bone-in thighs).

6. Meanwhile, using a sharp knife, cut the pith and membrane from the oranges. (The flesh should be exposed.) Pry each orange apart into two halves and remove the thick central strands. Chop the orange flesh coarsely. Strip the leaves from the remaining sprig of rosemary, chop them, and add them to the chopped orange.

7. When the chicken and potatoes are done, serve with the orange-rosemary mixture as a topping.

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Tips

* Buy mature, deeply colored oranges because these have the most flavorful zest. A Microplane grater makes quick work of the zesting. If you use a traditional zester or channel knife, chop the strips of zest finely before adding them to the olive oil.

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James Macris used Cara Cara oranges and bone-in thighs. The oranges “worked fine,” but eight bone-in thighs took him 65 minutes to roast, during which time the onions above the rim of his baking dish burned. Overall, though, James found the dish an “outstanding presentation.”

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If you have tried one of these recipes and have an improvement or tip or variation to suggest, please e-mail David at dinner@wamc.org. Also feel free to send along your own family cuisine recipes. You can even request dishes that you'd like David to present in the future.

David Rubel is president of Agincourt Press, a book production company in Chatham, New York. He spends his days writing American history, then heads home after work to cook for his wife and two young children. His most recent book is The Story of America (DK, 2002).