Bill Granger's Lemon Chicken

This was going to be tough. Do I make Bills lemon pound cake or his lemon chicken? There were no alternatives. Bill Granger would have to be one of my favourite chefs, his recipes and cookbooks are so user friendly and everything he does tastes amazing. I decided to make his Lemon Chicken because I do SO much baking and wanted to mix it up a little.  




I invited Girlfriday around for dinner as she had only just returned from Vietnam and I hadn't seen her since Christmas Day. She brought us some lovely gifts too, one of which I have included a picture of. It is a gorgeous red hand woven bowl with a lid: perfect for my lemons :)




Bill Granger's Lemon Chicken (Every Day Cookbook)
Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbs plain flour
1 tsp Chinese five-spice
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
4 X 180g boneless chicken breasts with skin
vegetable oil
1 lemon, cut into wedges
3cm (1 Inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin strips
4 tbs honey
2 tbs Chinese rice wine
80ml lemon juice
2 tbs light soy sauce
80ml chicken stock
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tsp cornflour (cornstarch), mixed with a little cold water

Method

Preheat the oven to 180’C (350’F/Gas 4). Mix the flour, five-spice, salt and pepper on a large plate.Dust the chicken in the spiced flour.

Heat enough oil for shallow frying in a large wok over medium-high heat. Fry the chicken breasts for 2-3 minutes, or until the skin is crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper, then put the chicken on a baking tray and bake for 6 minutes, or until just cooked through.

Meanwhile, drain all but 2 tablespoons of the oil from the wok and return to high heat. Add the lemon wedges and ginger and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the honey, rice wine and lemon juice and cook for 1 minute, then add the soy sauce , chicken stock and sugar and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the cornflour mixture and simmer for 2 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat.


To serve, cut each chicken breast into 5 or 6 pieces and spoon some sauce over the top.

The recipe turned out perfectly and I have Bill to thank for that. It was full of flavour and Pete and Girlfriday loved it. The sauce was nice and syrupy and super tasty, I could have eaten it a spoon on its own. I found that cooking the chicken this way was great because the meat stayed moist and didn’t dry out. 



I have also decided to add a few new elements to my Cookbook Challenge posts each week from here on in. Here they are, I hope you find them helpful.

Difficulty Scale ( 1-5): 3
Best thing about this recipe: I discovered a new way to cook my chicken and keep it moist.
Worst thing about this recipe: Nothing!
Would I make it again: Yes
Love factor (1-5): xoxo

I hope you have enjoyed this post. Please leave a comment and share your favourite citrus recipe.


Comments

  1. This looks so, so much better than the sickly-sweet, gloopy lemon chickens I sometimes ordered from the local Chinese restaurant when I was a kid! Makes me think I might have to buy a Bill Granger cookbook one of these days...

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  2. It looks amazing ..!! I enjoy your posts...:))

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  3. I had visions the same as Hannah of a gloopy lemon chicken from my childhood, but this looks wonderful. So light and fresh.

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  4. Nice! I was thinking lemon chicken instead of making a cake, I'm still not sure.

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  5. This lemon chicken looks amazing; I love combining chicken with fresh lemon and this dish looks great. Looking forward to more of your tasty posts!

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  6. His recipes are great aren't they! I recently made a Bill Granger recipe-but this one was more sweet than savoury (what's new?) :P

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  7. I came across this recipe, but didn't get to try it this fortnight. After reading your review, it seems like I should really try it. Chicken + lemon is always a great combination.

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  8. I love Bill Granger's recipes as they always have easy to find ingredients and a fairly simple process. Did this taste as good as it looks?

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  9. Kat, Its definitely worth a try. My husband thinks it tastes like is favourite Saigon Chicken dish from our local Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant so its going to become a regular in our household. Great recipe!

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  10. OMG your photos are so amazing. You've really inspired me to try this recipe too!

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