HOISIN CHICKEN

If you're not familiar with hoisin sauce, it's a soy based sauce used in Chinese cooking whose main ingredients are soybean paste, garlic, vinegar, and various spices such as chili peppers. The flavor this mixture yields is described as sweet, salty, and spicy. While we prefer chicken thighs, the same recipe can be adapted to a whole chicken or the parts of your choice.


2-3 lbs chicken, skin on, bone in
1 1/2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs honey
3 tbs low sodium soy sauce
1 tbs hoisin sauce
3 tbs seasoned rice vinegar
1 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder
1 (1 inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
3 scallions, sliced
salt and pepper to taste


Combine brown sugar, honey,soy sauce, hoisin, rice vinegar, Chinese 5-spice powder, ginger, and scallions. Place chicken in a large zip locked bag and pour in marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator at least 6 hours or overnight.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in a metal baking dish coated with non stick spray. Pour over the marinade. Bake for 25 minutes. Turn chicken pieces and cook an additional 20-25 minutes until chicken is done. Serve with white rice and sauteed bok choy for your own version of take out.
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TASTE NOTES
As much as I love it, I seldom eat the skin on chicken. You can probably guess why I make an exception in this case. The flavors of the marinade permeated the flesh of the chicken and then are enhanced by the carmelization of the marinade on the skin. There are seldom any leftovers, but when there are, I love to slice the chicken and add it to my salad for a wonderful lunch.

MY OWN ZIP CODE

Well, it's official: my butt now has its own zip code. I was a very, very bad girl on vacation and now it's time to pay the piper. It's not as if I didn't know what I was doing or that Larry tied me down and force-fed me key lime pie, huge slabs of honeyed ribs, homemade chocolate hazelnut cake, and, did I mention key lime pie????? On the positive side, I read a hilarious book about weight loss, Jen Lancaster's Such a Pretty Fat. Although Jen is almost 20 years younger than I, we have the same bizarre sense of humor. I kept dissolving into hysterics for which I'd get a look from Larry. Each time I'd confide, "I could have written that!" I'm going to check out her blog at
http://www.jennsylvania.com/. I'll let you know how it is.

My Weight Watcher's journal is out on the counter and I'm ready to get serious. Because of other commitments, I'll do it on my own (READ: get a head start) this week and attend my first (well, not my first first, my first THIS time) meeting next Tuesday. It's a new leader; I hope she's as good as the one I had last time. That one only works on Saturdays and that just didn't work. In honor of my recommitment to a healthy lifestyle, today I'll share one of my favorite chicken recipes. You may have noted that I'm a real fan of this bird. I'll add the photo tonight, so you know I'm really doing this.

Hoisin Chicken
1/3 cup hoisin sauce*
1/4 cup white wine or cooking sherry
2 tsp grated, peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 lbs. skinless chicken legs (or thighs, if you prefer)

In a zip lock bag, combine the hoisin sauce, wine, ginger, and garlic, then add the chicken. Squeeze out the air, seal the bag, and refrigerate. Turn the bag a few times while this marinates. I prefer overnight, but a few hours will do. HINT: put bag in a bowl, just in case it leaks!

Preheat the oven to hot (425 degrees should do). Line a baking sheet with foil or use a disposable one. Spray the foil with nonstick spray. Place the chicken legs in a single layer on the baking sheet and roast until the legs are browned--about 25 minutes.
OPTIONAL, if you like crunchy stuff: sprinkle the legs with 2 tsp of toasted sesame seeds before serving.

*Hoisin sauce-if you haven't used this, you're in for a treat and will think of lots of other recipes it will enhance. Hoisin sauce is sweet and spicy at the same time. You need to refrigerate it once it's opened. It's readily available in the Chinese section of your supermarket.