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!”
Bonus post all ’round, despite the irksome behavior of the camera. Because, after all, if the camera ruins a perfectly good shoot in a really superb place, why then one is *forced* to return to the really superb place, and sooner rather than later, no?
The recipes are simply divine in the usual Celi way. Chicken and lemon are such a match-made-in-heaven (though you remind me of the Chinese restaurant our friend stopped frequenting after he found out it was *not* a legend that their famed Lemon Chicken was made not of chook but cat). Felonious feline cookery aside, then, lemon and chicken are so succulent and delectable when married that it almost seems wrong to make chicken *without* some form of its citrus companion in the dish. So these are truly RIGHT dishes. Righteous, even! Amen.
Exactly and the wonderful thing about this pie is that it was even better the next day, stone cold! very tasty it is!! c
I wasn’t able to put my hand up as I didn’t see marmalade chicken coming. What a fascinating trip to the junkyard – I look forward to hearing all about the outdoor wall -less bathroom!
The outdoor bathroom is a long project as first i have to grow the walls!! Piles of lilac and white hydrangeas. But it is coming along and as soon as i can kidnap and very brave plumber we should be able to begin! c
Extra credit for multi-use of lemon marmalade! How wonderful. Making a mental note to use my marmalade for basting next time. And you know how I feel about pot pies. I indulged in a few in Australia as it seemed the thing to do :).
Well it sure is the thing to do, maybe you have some new ideas to share too, I must remember that they are called pot pies here in the US. Thank you Ksenia.. c
I can just taste that chicken…yum. Does Daisy get the stuffing? Aren’t those perfect finds a thrill? Look forward to the time you can snap some photos.
I hope to wander back over that way next week, if the weather holds.. it is so beautiful today! c
I can tell you I didn’t know this was coming at all lol. I was thinking about biscuits and you turned this marvelous marmalade into a savory and wonderful meal. To say I’m hungry after reading this is an understatement lol
Thank you kay, it is fun to mix it up a bit sometimes! c
I LOVE a pie. I will go a long way for a good one,and I adore cooking them. My pastry always misbehaves: I call my monstrosities Frankenpie.
These two recipes look adventurous: and as I am having folks on Saturday to lunch I am tempted to try it then! If only for the gravy….
that is brilliant -another pie lover.. you need our pastry recipe, if you have a food processer.. I I will send you the link back to the original! It mostly always works unless you are in a hurry then it does not! http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/all_butter_crust_for_sweet_and_savory_pies_pate_brisee/
there hope that link works.. this is a simple pastry recipe that i use all the time and truly recommend!..
Interesting link to the pastry process. I have used my magi-mix for pastry for a while now, with good results.
What is magi-mix? c
mines an old version of this http://www.magimix.fr/index.php?rid=350&lg=502
about 26 years old 🙂
wow, that machine has worked hard for a long time!
Did someone say pie? PIE? I love the sound of this one 🙂 Glorious flavours and full of light and warmth, just what we need here over the weekend… I have way too many lemons, maybe I’ll make the whole shebang xx
You will love the marmalade, perfect on that hot bread i just know you are about to take out of the oven!! c
I love chicken pie! Love, love, love it! And lemons…and YUM!!!
My sister and brother-in-law on the island where I grew up in Washington have an outdoor shower that Charley uses every day, even in winter. He loves it!
hi gretchen, i think that the outside hot shower is even better in the winter, all the steam!! now I really want to get that project underway!! c
Hi Celi, a friend in NZ has installed an outdoor bath for two. It’s surrounded by a high bamboo fence on three sides and sits on a plateau looking over a terraced garden that runs down to a gorge 50ft below.
Fantastic! Sounds dreamy! c
I’m drooling! PS You’ve given me a new name! (twice) but alas, I am not that famous woman aviator and she is no relation (sigh).
Oh No i am so sorry.. that is dreadful! I shall repeat your name to myself until I get over the mind block and JULIET could you send me the link to your blog, I cannot find it through your moniker above and i would love to visit! Juliet! Juliet! Juliet.. Ok I think I have it!! How could i forget such a beautiful name.. Thank you .c
I think you’ve got it! Here’s the link to my blogpost about First Fruits:
http://seasonalinspiration.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/celebrating-first-fruits.html
General link is http://www.seasonalinspiration.blogspot.com
Do visit!
Thank you Juliet! I shall pop over now! c
Love the sound of that outdoor bath ‘room’. Should be beautiful!
I hope so.. Even an outdoor shower would be a joy in the summer! after gardening all day.. c
Looks delicious! You’re making me want to move out of the city and onto a farm!
Save a barn Yummy! What a wonderful thought! c
Sorry to hear about your camera C! I hope it gets better soon. 😉
It was my fault it threw a wobbly now it is all better~ Phew! c
I am going to try some marmalade tonight with my roast chicken 🙂
Fantastic Tandy.. let me know how that works out.. c
I need to buy some (LOL I forgot to check the fridge before leaving home)!
Oh no!! ah well.. c
Correct that was a left of field post / recipe !
And I’m imagining the gravy……….