Two recipes today! Often I use the Honey Lemon Marmalade I made yesterday, to baste a roasting chicken. I could make this one for you but it is just as easy to describe. Simply stuff the bird with chunks of onion, lemon, apple and thyme. You will not eat this stuffing so no need to peel or prep anything. Cut a lemon in half and a whole garlic in half to roast alongside the chicken. Then in the last 30 minutes of roasting, brush with the marmalade as often as you think about it. Pop your potatoes around the roast for the last 40 minutes and you have Celi’s favourite chicken roast. It is the gravy that will make you sigh though. I love the gravy from this chicken!
Anyway yesterday I made some pastry and constructed the Marmalade Chicken pie! Oh you knew I was going to do that! You know how I love to make hot pies. But it is SO GOOD! But impossible to make the shot look as pretty as it tastes! Plus as you can see my pastry was a disaster!! Then my big camera refused to shoot at all, so this was taken with my purse camera! 
Marmalade Chicken Pie is for special occasions. Though to my mind every day is special!
First gently cook 3 finely sliced onions, when they are soft add a big slug of balsamic vinegar and cook down until they are caramelised and melty. Then pick a peck of pickled peppers (1 teaspoon of pickled jalapeno – finely sliced – you knew that!). Add to the onions. The heat of the peppers lifts the sweet onions. Rest. Not you -the onions!!
Cook a pan full of chicken fillet, diced into cubes, salt and ground pepper, until golden. Add a scant 1/2 cup honey lemon marmalade. Toss above the flame until hot and shiny. Deglaze with a good glass of dry white wine. (or whatever is in the open bottle!) Render down until saucy.
Make the pie. Line your pastry dish with half the pastry. (You can blind bake, though I did not this time as I was HUNGRY!) Dot the pastry with small cubes of feta cheese. (The salty cheese is perfect with the sweet chicken) Add marmalade chicken then the onion mixture. Then wilted spinach. Add your top layer of pastry. Sprinkle the top of the pastry with a little chunky sea salt.
Cook at 375 for about 30 – 40 minutes.
And now to the junkyard. I am so sorry. By the time I got to the junk yard yesterday the fog had rolled in so thickly we could barely see what we were looking at. All the sheds were dark. No light at all. This is when my camera went on the blink and no amount of shaking and growling would make the shutter release. I call this a ‘God said NO’ day! Yes, I attended a convent school!
So no images. But I found a wonky old work bench. An even wonkier but potentially stunning kitchen table that has a leg going the wrong way but fantastic peeling green paint and a good heavy top. John found two old glass windows for the cold frame! Actually John did a lot of slow head shaking, as the delightful elderly junk yard man and I zoomed from one end of the yard to the other, BOTH clad in tall green gumboots. Me exclaiming over wonky stuff. The old fella pointing out more wonky stuff. I was in heaven. This old codger has everything. TonTon is seriously in love with the man and we will return on a sunny day with the camera. He collects cupolas from collapsed barns. Can you imagine!
Plus and here is the thing that raised Our John’s interest – the Junk Yard Man has a solar water heating panel still in it’s disintegrating wrapper, sat waiting just for us in one of his barns. Perfect for my solar heated outdoor bath and shower room (without walls). More on that another time.
This morning we have freezing fog. Plus it is Ground Hog Day, though John’s research has said that the ground hog is only right about thirty percent of the time. And Jean tells me that it is The Festival of First Light in our hemisphere so from now on it gets lighter and brighter! That deserves a dance! A nice convent girls dance, naturally!
We are surrounded in freezing fog. So I shall skate over to the barn and see what’s what!
Good morning!
c
PS A really easy way to wilt spinach: Spread a thin tea towel over your colander placed in the sink, load your washed spinach in. Pour a jug of boiling water slowly all over the spinach, gather the ends of the tea towel and squeeze the water out of it. Now it is wilted and drained and ready for a pie or quiche.
The Kitchen's Garden 
110 responses to “Marmalade Chicken – Hands Up Who Saw THAT Coming!”
That pie sounds like a meal unto itself and I love the combo of the sweet citrus chicken, the spinach and the feta…a little Greek influence. I wish we had a junk yard like that close by…sounds like so much fun! Happy Groundhog’s Day!
for sure betsy i have some exploring to do!! c
Good morning, Cecilia. That pie sounds delicious and I could make a painting of the junkyard from your description of it with two people in green gumboots and the things they look at.
You would have to paint us as a blur, the blonde and the old codger in our knee high green gummies, racing from one thing to the next exclaiming over this and that.. c
Well, watercolors tend to be blurry. I would just picture the two of you looking at one of the finds you described with others in the background or foreground. So many paintings, so little time.
lovely in our minds though!! c
Honestly I did not see that coming… What a wonderful chicken pie, lots of amazing flavors going on there. I love how you measure, slug of this and a dash of that. Me too. Take care, Bam
I do cook like that and writing it down is always the hardest. It is a great pie and WONDERFUL cold!! c
Sounds and looks divine! I’ve got the honey lemon marmalade on my list of things to make this week. Now I can’t wait to make the chicken too!
Morning Karista. let me know how the marmalade turns out, i just love it! c
Oh, this sounds just right for a stuck inside chilly rainy day! (and the junkyard trip sound exciting – you’ll have to go back and discover more every so often)
As soon as the fog lifts .. not today tho i think i will be back over there with a happy camera!! c
I’m with ya, Celi. I really do enjoy a lemony roasted chicken and chicken pot pies have always been a favorite. It seems like our sky is starting to clear. Maybe we’ll see the Sun before the morning ends. I hope your camera just doesn’t like fog and is back in good working order today.
Yup it behaved this morning, which was foggy again. who knows, I hope it not the beginning of the end, this camera is pretty old! c
We just did some oven fried chicken and one of the sauces, yes we had more than one, was a spicy orange sauce. It had orange marmalade in it. Our first time trying it this way and we thought it turned out pretty good. Maybe a bit too sweet, but good.
I already completed a plumbing job this morning. I work too quick! Then back home to the computer.
Excellent. You have some time to sow some cabbage seeds and start work on the chook house!!! i added the feta to the chicken pie to counteract the sweetness. Sounds like you had a feast! c
I did not see this coming! Looks wonderful though.
Morning greg, i wonder what is cooking your your kitchen today!! c
Mmmm…the chicken sounds SO good. Now I’m already hungry for dinner. 🙂
Pies are so easy to make, really filling and always some leftovers to take to work the nest day! c
Nice tip on the spinach!! I like to make pot pies too!! Mostly for my son as I’ll take leftovers and mix them up, throw in a pie crust and top with crust and he’s got a whole new different dinner!! Great use of your marmalade!!
I never make two pies the same either Linda, it is fun that way! c
I HEART the tip on the spinach at the end of your post today – thanks for sharing! Okay and who does not love a good pie – fruit or meat – yummy:) Have a Great Day on the Farmy!
We are having a very foggy day but everyone seems happy.. c
I’m drooling here! Got any left?
I will pop it in a doggie bag!! c
a) I miss a good junkyard! and
b) as I took chicken breast out to thaw, I’m going to adapt your pot pie for today – Chris will be eternally grateful to you! Hawaiian honey and Meyers lemon juice for the sweet; Sake for the wine; romano instead of the feta I don’t have; chard for the spinach and green chiles because jalapenos are too hot for us. I’m excited to see how it turns out! 😀
It will be great. i love adaptations. the sweet, the sour, hot, pungent and the bland all together – you can’t go wrong.. c
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
That pie sounds delicious, can I have some?
now where is my time machine? I could pop a piece in and push deliver!
Oh now you’ve done it, Celi. You’ve gone and mentioned pie, and then posted that gorgeous photo. Now I’m going to have to make pie…sigh… 🙂
Out with the food processor again!! (laughter) have a great day celia! c