Becky Campbell’s Chicken With Carambola

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

When you buy carambola, also called star fruit, look for ones that  are
uniformly yellow to orange and have a subtle perfume. If they are
green, they aren't ripe and won't yield a great deal of flavor. At
their ripest, their flavor is an unmistakably tropical combination of
apple, banana and lychee.  Rinse chicken well and pat it thoroughly
dry.  In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice and zest,
onions, honey, ginger and minced pepper. Stir in three-fourths of the
carambola slices.  Then add the chicken, and turn it until it is
coated with the marinade.  Cover and refrigerate overnight, or up to  2
days, turning the chicken occasionally so it marinates evenly.  Arrange
chicken in a single layer in a 9 x 13" baking dish; season  generously
with salt.  Add almonds to the marinade, stir, and spoon  it over the
chicken.  Bake at 375 F. in the center of the oven,  basting frequently
with pan juices and turning any chicken pieces  that get too brown,
about 35 minutes.  Add remaining carambola, stir,  and continue cooking
until the chicken is golden and a thigh yields  clear juice when
pricked at its thickest part, 15 to 20 minutes.  Taste the sauce and
adjust the seasoning. Just before serving, mince  the cilantro if you
are using it. Serve chicken right from the baking  dish, or divide
among four warmed dinner plates. Spoon sauce over the  chicken, garnish
with cilantro and serve.  This dish can be prepared up to 2 days in
advance. Goes well with a  semi-dry German Kabinett, such as Deirhard
1989.  Loomis writes:  "Becky Campbell became a tropical fruit
aficionado  through the career of her husband, Carl, who is an
internationally  known tropical fruit expert. He researched and taught
at the  University of Florida, where he is now professor emeritus.  She
became an expert on cooking with tropical fruits, and lectured and
taught cooking classes for years. Together they developed a small
tropical fruit orchard in the backyard of their home near Homestead,
Florida.  "Becky refers to the tropical fruit orchard that surrounds
their  single-story home as a 'mini experiment station.' Her husband
does the  experimenting, and she brings the bounty into the kitchen.
Their  orchard produces everything from Key limes and carambola to
black  sapote and mangoes.  "Becky and Carl were recently in Uganda,
where carambola is as common  as green grapes are here. There she
picked up valuable tips for using  the lovely star-shaped fruit, and
she set out samples for us to  taste: golden star-shaped slices of
dried carambola, carambola  leather and carambola preserves, where the
stars were suspended in a  thick sweet syrup. They were all delicious."
From Farm House Cookbook by Susan Herrmann Loomis. New York: Workman
Publishing Company, Inc., 1991.  Pp. 145-146. ISBN 0-89480-772-2.
Electronic format by Cathy Harned.  From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster
collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

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Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
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Calories: 242
Calories From Fat: 135
Total Fat: 15.2g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 719.4mg
Potassium: 425.9mg
Carbohydrates: 22.6g
Fiber: 4.2g
Sugar: 15.9g
Protein: 6g