Chinese Five Spice Chicken with Ginger-Scented Rice and Snow Peas with Almonds

This is such a great dish! I have made it a couple of times before and it is very much a crowd pleaser! The recipe came from Bon Appetit magazine which I received a subscription gift from my Mother in Law. (I have THE best In-Laws ever!) I have used this particular issue on numerous occasions in fact, it is the same issue that my crab cakes came from! Enjoy!

Chinese Five Spice Chicken

4 garlic cloves, pressed

2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt (I used to taste, 2 tablespoons seems too much).

1 tablespoon freshly cracked pepper (I added this).

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder- I probably used closer to 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons.

1 cut-up chicken (8 pieces; about 3 1/2 pounds) – I used thighs and legs (about 10 pieces).

1 large onion, peeled, cut into 16 wedges

Combine garlic, salt, olive oil, and Chinese five-spice powder in large bowl. Add chicken pieces; turn to coat. Cover and chill at least 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 425°F. Arrange onion wedges in 13x9x2-inch roasting pan. Arrange chicken, skin side up, atop onions. Roast until chicken is cooked through, basting occasionally with pan juices, about 50 minutes. Remove chicken from oven and let rest 10 minutes. Arrange chicken and onions on platter and serve.

Snow Peas with Toasted Almonds

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1/2 pound snow peas, trimmed- The store didn’t have any so I used Sugar Snap, the were great and I also made a 1 pound not a half.

2 teaspoons minced shallot

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Salt and Pepper to taste- I added this.

Melt butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add almonds and cook until golden and fragrant and butter begins to brown, stirring frequently, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add snow peas and shallot; sauté until snow peas are crisp-tender, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat; add lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and serve.

Ginger-Scented Rice

1 3-inch-long 1-inch-thick piece fresh ginger, peeled, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick pieces- I used ground ginger… I didn’t really measure, I would a guess maybe 1 tablespoon.

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

Using garlic press, squeeze enough fresh ginger into small bowl to measure 1 1/2 tablespoons juice with pulp. (Remember, I used ground ginger, so I skipped this step.) Transfer ginger to small saucepan. Add 1 1/2 cups water, rice, butter, and salt to same pan. Cover; bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, until rice is tender, about 15 minutes. Remove pan from heat; let rice sit 10 minutes. Uncover; fluff rice with fork.