Apricot chicken pieces
This chicken recipe has got to be one of the easiest recipes I have ever come across, is seriously tasty and one of those easy recipes you can put together in minutes and please anyone. It’s an ideal weekday recipe when you feel like something really tasty but just want to put your feet up after a busy day at the office. A tip to save you time is to cook up a big pot of rice over the weekend, use what you want for the weekend meal and then to place portions of the cooked rice in bags and freeze it for whenever you need it. All you need to do is pop the frozen rice in a sieve over a pot of boiling water to thaw and you are ready in an instant. You can double or triple the chicken recipe without any problems, the only limiting factor is the size of your dish or roasting pan. (this is for 4 people)
What you need
10 Chicken thighs
1 cup chicken stock
1 heaped tablespoon smooth apricot jam
1 tablespoon mild curry powder
Handfull of dried soft apricots
Handfull of baby onions halved (optional but recommended)
Salt and pepper
The process
In a bowl whisk together the chicken stock, apricot jam and curry powder.
Place all of the chicken pieces, the apricots and onions into a bag, pour in the apricot marinade you have just whisked up, seal and set on the counter in a cool place for at least 1/2 an hour, longer is better.
While the chicken is marinading go and change, pour a glass of wine or crack open a beer, chat to the family, watch a bit of telly, you get the idea relax a bit you have pretty much already got the dinner sorted.
Heat your oven to 180 Celsius and place the chicken pieces in an oven proof dish or roasting pan and then pour over the remaining marinade. Pop in the oven for 30 minutes until nicely roasted and brown on top.
Done, serve with rice and frozen cooked peas or any green veg. To give the family all the veg they need, start them off with a bowl of the vegetable soup you made that you froze for just this sort of evening.
Another easy recipe is the Greek style chicken recipe from Jeremy Mansfield’s book Zhoosch which is really awesome.
Hi Graham,
Can the chicken be marinaded the night before?
Regards,
Hi Raylene, You sure can, overnight is actually better.. Have a lekker weekend G
Hi Graham
Made this over the week-end and it was fabulous. Added a lot more jam (half a jar) and threw sliced raw mushrooms over the top before baking. Here in Australia, chicken drumsticks are dirt cheap (as compared to SA) so I used some thighs but added lots of drumsticks. The kids loved it and I will definitely make it again.
Fantastic Amelia, thanks so much for letting us know. Love the sliced mushroom topping, will also give it a go. Amazed to hear that drumsticks are cheaper over there… lucky you matey!. Have a fantastic time G
Hi Graham
Instead of the baby onions, can we use just normal onions? If so, how much would we need?
Hi April, It’s not quite the same, the baby onions are just perfect in this recipe… they are readily avaiable in most stores nowadays. Cheers for now G
Awesome dish went down well with the family! Apricot jam quantity – far too little for the taste required. I used an entire small tin of chunky apricot jam smeared the pieces with the jam when I placed it in the dish (used a tablespoon in the marinade) and reduced the liquid/chicken stock. Really tasty. Thanks G.
Hi Barbara, gotta love your version… go big or go home I guess. So glad you enjoyed and sorry for the late reply… damn flu got me! Have a fantastic time G
This sounds awesome just like my mom used to make it! So I will attempt this tonight, only thing I can’t find chicken thighs anywhere in Denmark;-( I suppose I could still use maybe 4-5 chicken breats instead?
Hi Ryan, sorry for the late reply, been in Cape Town for a few days… sun was shining and people on the beach… go figure for winter! breasts will be fine but be careful the don’t dry out. Thats amazing you cant get Thighs in Denmark, I wonder what they do with them then. Have a fabulous day G
Well I think they keep the thighs at the same place where the sun is hidden- we are in the middle of summer but have yet to get a chance to go to the beach! This dish came out so delicious! The only problem there wasn’t really enough sauce for the rice, so I think next time I’ll add a bit more of the chicken stock with water? Thanks for a great website! 🙂
Great one Ryan, sorry for the late reply… damn cold got me. Cheers for now G