What's for dinner tonight?

I am by far no foodie but almost everyday Drew, Ruby and I watch Rachael Ray and what she is making for dinner that night.  Usually nothing really catches my eye because a) it involves too many steps or b) has some fancy ingredients that I probably don't like.  I am what you would call a simple cook.  Although, I wouldn't say I'm a bad cook, and Brendan compliments my cooking but I am no Rachel Ray.  I do however like to find easy yet tasty and healthy meals for our family.

A few weeks back this recipe really caught my eye.  Chicken with Brocolini and Orange Sauce.  It's a take on a chicken and broccoli inspired Asian style take out dish.  It seemed pretty simple and to be honest, it was!  I made a few minor changes to the recipe, but all in all we really liked it and in fact we're having it again for dinner tonight.

What you will need:

2 1/4 cups chicken stock, divided

1 cup Texmati rice or white rice

1 small bunch scallions, thinly sliced on an angle

1 large bundle broccolini, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken, white or dark meat (3 pieces breast or 5-6 thighs)

Salt and pepper

3 tablespoons high-temperature cooking oil, such as canola, safflower or peanut, divided

1 1-inch piece of ginger root, grated or finely chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/3 cup Tamari (dark soy sauce), soy sauce or low-sodium soy sauce

1/2 cup orange marmalade

How to make it:

Bring 1 3/4 cups stock to a boil. Stir in the rice, cover, reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 15-18 minutes, until tender. Add the scallions and fluff with a fork.

Bring a few inches of water to a boil for the broccolini.

Meanwhile, thinly slice the chicken thighs or, if using breast meat, butterfly each breast into cutlets, then thinly slice. Season the sliced chicken with salt and pepper.

To boiling water, add some salt and the broccolini. Parboil the broccolini for 3-4 minutes, then drain, run under cool water and reserve.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. To the very hot pan, add the chicken and stir fry until golden, no more than 5 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate and reserve. Add the remaining tablespoon oil to the pan, along with the ginger and garlic. Stir for 30 seconds, then add the Tamari , marmalade and remaining 1/2 cup stock. Add the chicken and broccolini back to pan to heat until the sauce is thickened.

Serve the chicken and broccolini over rice.

A couple of changes I made, I used regular broccoli, our grocery store doesn't carry broccolini, and I used brown rice.  Couldn't tell a difference.  The one huge difference I did notice was cooking the rice in chicken broth, so much better tasting than when I cook it in water! 

Both B and I thought this was very tasty and the leftovers were fantastic!  I would highly suggest making this for dinner tonight!