Chicken in Plum Sauce

We grow these Chickasaw plums in our yard.  They’re very easy to grow and good producers (if you can keep the deer and squirrels away from them!)  This is a fairly compact tree (about 8’-10’ tall) that requires very little care, and grows a small-ish, sweet plum that’s great for cooking, eating, and making jelly.  Fruit comes in the summer months . . .just in time for BBQ season!  They’re also good for making your own BBQ sauce.  If you can’t find the Chickasaw plums where you live, you can use a different kind.  But try to find the smaller yellow-orange variety instead of the big, red ones. 

Chickasaw Plums

Ingredients

30 small Chickasaw plums

2 tbl. olive oil

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled & minced

8 oz. can of crushed pineapple

¼ cup soy sauce

½ tsp. ground ginger

2 tbl. honey (we got this really great organic honey, comb and all, from a local beekeeper!)

¼ cup sherry

4 lbs. of chicken thighs

sea salt

ground black pepper

garlic powder

¼ cup Canola oil

1 medium onion, peeled and sliced into ¼” rings (separate the rings)

 

Baked Chicken in Plum Sauce

Directions

·         Bring large pot of water to a boil and dunk the plums into the boiling water for about 10 seconds

·         Remove plums immediately with a split spoon or strainer and put into a bowl

·         Remove the skins from the plums (which is very easy to do after putting them into the hot water)

·         Squeeze the pits out of the plums and reserve the fruit for later use

·         Place the plums and their juice into a blender and blend on low for about 5 seconds, then pour into a bowl

·         Put the olive oil in a large saucepan and bring to medium heat

·         Sauté the onion & garlic until tender, and just beginning to brown (stirring often)

·         Remove onion & garlic pan from heat, and add the pureed plums, crushed pineapple, soy sauce, ginger, honey and sherry, and mix well, cooking over medium heat (stirring often) about 20 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside

·         Sprinkle the chicken with salt (go easy with the salt), pepper & garlic powder (liberally) on both sides

·         In a large skillet, add the Canola oil and heat over medium until hot

·         Sauté the in the oil about 5 minutes on each side (do not thoroughly cook at this point) – you’ll need to do this in several batches

·         Place about ½ cup of the plum sauce in the bottom of a large roasting pan or baking dish

·         Place the chicken pieces in the roasting pan in layers on top of the sauce, skin-side up

·         Spread onion rings over the first layer of chicken

·         Spoon the remaining plum sauce over each layer of chicken chicken, making sure each piece is thoroughly coated with sauce

·         Bake at 375° for 1 ½ hours, basting with the sauce occasionally (you might need to add a little water if the sauce gets too dry before the chicken is done)

Our Chickasaw Plum tree, full of fruit