Chicken L'Orange

I love having others give me suggestions on what to cook. Cooking is fun; deciding what to do not so much. So, today Wayne requested Chicken L'Orange with wild rice.

We've tried the boxed wild rice before, but I prefer creating our own combination. We like the ratio of one part wild rice to four parts white rice. That goes with eleven parts water and some salt and a bit of butter. Boil the water with the salt and butter, add the wild rice and simmer, 15-20 minutes later add the white rice, and then cook until it's done, about 25 more minutes. So for about four normal servings that would be 1/4 cups wild rice, 1 cup white rice, and 2 3/4 cup water with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon butter. (If it's easier to figure 12 parts and increase the water to 3 cups, that would probably work as well.)

Most Orange Chicken recipes that I looked at used small chunks of chicken and had an Oriental flair. Wayne was thinking more French style, similar to his dinner choice a couple of months ago at The Cheesecake Factory, with a large, pounded chicken breast. I knew he would want a breading/coating on the chicken, and I didn't have any orange marmalade in the pantry. So, this is what we came up with, using Pioneer Woman's recipe as the inspiration.

Chicken L'Orange

4 large chicken breasts
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Dash salt
Dash crushed red pepper
1 clove garlic, pressed
A little grated or minced ginger
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

Pound chicken breasts until about 1/4" and cut in half if desired. Combine egg and water in one bowl and 3 tablespoons cornstarch, flour and salt and pepper in another. Dip the chicken in the egg mixture and coat with the cornstarch mixture and set aside. In a saucepan, combine the orange juice with the soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, salt, red pepper, garlic and ginger. Bring to a boil. Combine the 1 tablespoon cornstarch and water, add to the sauce, and cook until thickened. Set aside.

Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and cook the chicken on both sides until done. Serve with the sauce and rice.


Note: It wasn't quite as "orange-y" tasting as I hoped it would be, but it was still delicious. And the sauce worked quite well with simple sauteéd salmon filets as well.


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