Chicken Confit With Orange-Saffron Glaze

I modified this simple recipe from a French cookbook – Cusine d’Hiver (Winter Cooking) by Tomawak. I don’t think it’s traditionally French, given the fact that they include saffron, but it did look good.

Using a skillet, you’ll need to brown 6 chicken breasts in olive oil, salt them, and set the meat aside.

In a large saucepan, fry 4 shallots in more olive oil. I used about 2 Tablespoons each for the shallots and the chicken breasts.

When the shallots are soft and starting to brown, add the juice of 2-4 four oranges, depending on how big they are. If they are large and very juicy, two will suffice. Add 3/4 cup bouillon (you can use water plus one large bouillon cube), and finally, add 2 doses of saffron. I’m guessing this is about 1/4 teaspoon.

This is powerful stuff. It has such a unique taste, and needs to be balanced out with the salt, oranges and honey. Oh yes, honey – two tablespoons.

Cook this mixture about 20 minutes on low heat until it has reduced – stir often. And this is when you’ll pre-heat the oven to 180°C or 375°F.

Put your chicken breasts in a pan, and cover them with the glaze, turning the breasts until they are fully coated. They stay in the oven for 30 minutes, but I took them out every ten minutes to turn them over and redistribute the glaze. And for the last ten minutes, I squeezed liquid honey all over the top of each breast so that they would caramelise.

Like that. *sigh*

You know, to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I liked it. I know that’s an odd thing to say for a food post. 🙂 I had to keep taking another bite just to see if I liked it. But then that bite wasn’t enough and I needed another bite. Like that, I finished the whole plate and wanted more – you know, just to see if I liked it.

I think I liked it.

(For a pretty presentation, use a half-cup measure to scoop out the rice that accompanies it, slice the chicken breast, and pour the orange glaze over the chicken and rice).

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