Recipe: Tangerines lend tang to chicken thighs in this tasty dish

It’s no secret that I love to cook chicken thighs. They are richer in flavor than chicken breasts, plus they are less expensive. Myriads of flavor enhancements can showcase the bird. Citrus is a favorite, especially tangerine or other varieties of mandarins.

To make this delicious tangerine-spiked chicken dish, you can use the minced zest, but I prefer to use the finely chopped peel of 2 thin-skinned tangerines, or other mandarins, such as Cuties or Halo brands.

It is difficult to find boned chicken thighs that still have the skin intact. I buy bone-in thighs and remove the bone with a small sharp knife. As for the skin, I trim it so that any excess portion that dangles over the side of the meat is cut off (clean scissors are handy for this).

Tangerine Chicken Thighs

Yield: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

2 tangerines or other mandarins (such as clementine), juice and finely chopped peel or minced zest

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup honey

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons minced ginger

2 1/2 teaspoons toasted Asian-style sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

6 skin-on chicken thighs, boned, excess skin trimmed

Garnish: Toasted sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS

1.Combine juice, peel or zest, soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, cinnamon and pepper in a small bowl; whisk to dissolve honey. Pour into large zipper-style bag. Add chicken. Seal and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours, turning bag several times to redistribute marinade.

2. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Line a roasting pan (9-by-13-inch) with aluminum foil. Remove chicken from bag and place in a single layer on prepared pan. Place marinade from bag in saucepan. Bring to boil on medium-high heat; reduce heat to medium and vigorously simmer until reduced by a little more than half in volume, about 8 to 10 minutes. Pour sauce over chicken. Bake 45 minutes. Sprinkle generously with toasted sesame seeds.

Award-winning food writer Cathy Thomas has written three cookbooks, including “50 Best Plants on the Planet.” Follow her at CathyThomasCooks.com.