Chicken Canzanese and Marmalade Carrots with Candied Pecans

I'm a huge fan of the show America's Test Kitchen. It's on PBS and is filmed in a kitchen in Vermont. Kind of quirky people, who test everything to death, ensuring you get a pretty darn foolproof recipe in the end.


I've made this Chicken Canzanese twice now and I have to say, it's one of my favorite chicken recipes. My mouth waters just thinking about it, no kidding. It's made with chicken thighs, which makes it economical, too :-)


It uses a technique called braising--which is basically searing, then simmering in the oven in a sauce. The chicken stays tender, the sauce gets thick and everything gets all yummy. The recipe is here (and has a video and everything). One of the things the recipe doesn't tell you is total cooking time. It usually takes me a little over 2 hours (there's an hour and 15 in there of in-oven time). So don't start this one late in the day ;-) It makes a great presentation, so it's on my guest menu, too.


You do need to have a Dutch Oven for this one. I have the Martha Stewart one, which is okay and cheaper than the Le Creuset, which I covet ;-).


Registering for America's Test Kitchen is free, and I definitely recommend that. Also, try to catch the show on your local PBS channel. Mine runs on either Saturday or Sunday mornings (I forget; the DVR just tapes it automatically for me). I have bought a few things they recommended on the show--a chef's knife, a vegetable peeler, a garlic press. Love them all.


When I made this tonight, I used center cut bacon since I was out of prosciutto. I never seem to have whole cloves on hand, so I use ground. I've been growing rosemary in my kitchen (I truly have no green thumb, but have yet to kill the rosemary) so I had that fresh. It does make a difference to use the fresh ingredients, particularly things like garlic--chopping your own is a HUGE difference in taste over using the jarred stuff. I served it with Marmalade Carrots with Candied Pecans, which were delicious. :-)


Marmalade Carrots with Candied Pecans

For the pecans:

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon white sugar

dash salt

For the carrots:

2 pounds baby carrots

4 tablespoons butter, divided

3/4 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons orange marmalade (I made my own today; look for it in a future blog post)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

dash kosher salt

In a small saucepan, prepare the pecans. Melt the butter and add the sugars. When the sugar melts, stir in the pecans and cook until syrupy, stirring often, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool in a dish or on a plate.

In a separate large saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add orange juice, marmalade, brown sugar, salt and carrots. Cook 12-15 minutes or until carrots begin to soften. Remove from heat, toss with pecans and serve.

This one was a huge hit with the whole family (my son calls it his favorite chicken). The vegetarian teen only had the carrots and liked those :-) So it's all on my keeper list! :-)


Shirley