Happy Dance Chicken

I love experimenting with cooking and I'm always inspired by sites like Foodgawker and by my big collection of recipe books and magazines.

A few years ago I entered Australia's Good Taste Magazines Home Cook of the Year competition and was the State Finalist for NSW. I was pretty stoked with the whole thing and it spurred me on to be more creative with my own recipes.

This one I came up with late last year and I call it Happy Dance Chicken because when I tasted it I was happy dancing for about half an hour. I could have called it OH MY FUCK THIS IS THE BEST CHICKEN EVER chicken, but it takes too long to say it when I'd rather be eating!

So how do you make Happy Dance Chicken? With just a few simple ingredients!

You can use any kind of chicken but I would suggest something with a bone and skin. I have used drumsticks, maryland and thighs and they all work great.

So lay out your chicken in your pan. Then get jars of garlic and ginger. I know a lot of people are purists about using fresh garlic and ginger, but for this recipe the really wet jarred stuff is perfect. So add a heap of that, then a whole bunch of paprika. Then take three or four preserved lemons (which you can make if not available to buy), cut out the white bits and dice up the skin into tiny pieces. Chuck that in. Then pour in a whole bunch of white wine. I get goon cos it's cheap and make sure it's not sweet.

Then bung it in the oven somewhere between 160 and 180 and cook it for ages turning every twenty minutes or so. I usually go for about an hour. But DO NOT LET IT DRY OUT! There should be quite a bit of sauce left over that you can pour on the chicken again just before serving.

I eat it with hot crispy chips from the Red Rock shop and it's fucking amazing.

 

This chicken is so good I was this far into it before I could take a picture!

My parents and my niece are giving happy dance chicken the thumbs up! The boys are too busy hoeing in!

Please enjoy Happy Dance Chicken!