Orange Chicken Chipotle

This dish has many ingredients.  Sometimes this creates a jumbled mess.  Here the flavors compliment one another to create an incredible mélange of tastes. Chipotle peppers, culantro, thyme, and masa flour are all used in authentic Mexican cooking.  Add to that the sweet acidity of orange juice and wow.  Just wow!

Servings: 4-6
Time:    Prep: 15 minutes; Cook: 30 Minutes
Hardware:  measuring spoons, a cutting board and knives, a gallon Ziploc bag, a heavy bottom skillet (I prefer a cast iron skillet), a wooden spoon, tongs, a plate, tinfoil, a whisk

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (maybe more)
• 1 ½ lb chicken breast sliced very thin and cut into bite size pieces
• 1 cup of masa harina flour*
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 medium red onion (½ cup)
• 1 cup red, yellow, and orange baby bells
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 1 leaf fresh culantro
• 1- ½ a chipotle pepper in adobe sauce (These are very spicy.  So adjust depending on your taste.)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ¾ cup orange juice
• ½ cup chicken stock
• S&P to taste

1. Wash and slice the baby bells.  Roughly chop the onions, thyme, and culantro.
2. Place the flour, cornstarch, chili powder, and garlic salt in the Ziploc.  Shake like crazy to mix. Put the chicken in the bag and shake it.  Make sure all the chicken pieces are coated.  Set aside.
3. Loosely tent the plate with foil.
4. Heat the olive oil in the pan on medium high.
5. Shake as much flour from the chicken as possible and add it to the pans a few pieces at a time.  Don’t crowd the chicken.  You may need to cook it in batches.  If you cut the chicken thin enough it should only need to cook for 2- 2 ½ minutes per side.  Turn the chicken with the tongs.  Remove the cooked chicken from the pan and keep it warm in the tinfoil tent as you add more pieces. You may need to add a little more olive oil if the pan becomes dry.  
6. Turn the pan down to medium and add the onion, bells, thyme, culantro, cumin, and chipotle pepper.  Use the whisk to scrap the bottom of the pan.  Sauté until the onions become translucent.  This should take about 5 minutes.
7. Stir in the orange juice and the stock.  Bring this to a boil.  Stir with the whisk, scraping the bottom of the pan as you do.  Add the chicken to the sauce and turn the pan down to a very low simmer.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is fork tender.  The sauce will not thicken very much.
8. S&P to taste. 

Serve right away.  Simple black beans and rice are a perfect side dish.

*Make sure you purchase masa (corn) harina flour and not cornmeal. You will find it on the aisle with the other flours. You can use it to make many Tex-Mex dishes.  I use it quite often to make homemade tortillas.  However, it does not act like wheat flour.  For example, it will not act as a thickener.  But if you want to be adventurous, this is a cheap way to go.  Also, it is gluten free.