I was just busy lately with work that I manage to update this site once a month usually on the final day. But in the spirit of leading busy lives and the bitchiness of maintaining a career, I am presenting a dish that caters to just that - making home cooked tasty meals while doing something else: whether be it work, catching up on reading, tending to your brats or even watching your often forgotten TV series!
The trick here is maintaining the juices while subjecting the meat to high temperatures that give its caramelization. This results in a dish that is tasty, fork tender yet moist. Yet, the tool should be able to do all that. Usually high heat results in a dry burnt dish. Long low heat usually results in fork tender stews that are quite honestly, tasteless! So how to manage to keep the best of both worlds? The secret? Oven timer cooking using a Dutch oven.
Hence to quote Ron Popeil, "Set it and forget it!!"
And I won't say more - I will let the video speak for itself.
Dutch Oven Honey Hoisin Chicken.
- 8 chicken thighs, thawed
- salt
- pepper
- 1 head garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1 onion, medium chopped
- 4 -5 springs thyme
- 1 thumbsized ginger, crushed
- Set the oven 375 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a bowl, combine salt, pepper, garlic and chicken and mix well. Line the Dutch oven pan with the chicken pieces. Top with onions and sprigs of thyme. Cover and bake in the preheated oven, timer cooking mode for two hours. Timer cooking means that the oven would turn itself of once the cooking time is over.
- You may just leave the whole setup and sleep until it is dinner time! But if you want to baste it further with flavors, then once the two hours are done just spread on top of the chicken pieces:
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
Cover once again. Leave it and serve until dinner time!
I served this to my nurses - and it was gone in about an hour...
