Five Spice Powder~an irresistible flavor on Chicken

The taste of Chinese Five Spice Powder is hard to describe.  It is a blend of cinnamon, cloves, star anise, fennel, and Szechuan peppercorns.  Used most often in Asian cooking, this aromatic blend is a combination of spicy and sweet. I make a rub using Five Spice Powder to use when roasting pieces of chicken. It is so flavorful and there is a wonderful aroma when roasting. The recipe below is my version of a similar recipe I found in Bon Appetite a few years ago.

Roast Chicken with Five Spice Powder-serves 2

2 cloves garlic

1 T kosher salt

1 T olive oil

1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice Powder

4 chicken thighs, skin on, bone-in (may substitute any chicken pieces)

one large peeled onion cut into wedges

Crush the garlic and kosher salt, using a mortar and pestle, to make a paste. (If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, finely chop garlic or use garlic press and put garlic into a small bowl with the salt and mix together with a spoon.) Once the garlic and salt paste is formed, combine with the olive oil and Five Spice Powder.  This is the rub.

In medium bowl coat the chicken pieces with the rub, then cover and refrigerate for an hour minimum. May be left overnight in the refrigerator to allow flavor to fully develop.

In small roasting pan drizzle a little olive oil and arrange onion wedges and set the chicken on top of onions.

Roast for 45 minutes at 425 degrees. Remove from oven and rest for 10 minutes.  I served this with Snow Peas & Toasted Almonds and Arugula dressed with vinaigrette.