Grapefruit Experiment - Ginger

Tonight I made round two in my grapefruit marinade experiment.  I’ve had two chicken thighs marinating in about a cup and a half of grapefruit juice and ginger spice.  I repeated the baking from the Friday night experiment:  baked the thighs in a baking dish at 500 degrees for 15 minutes, then lowered it to 350 for another 30 minutes.  The excess marinate I put in a pot on low to simmer and reduce while it was baking.

In the meantime, I prepared a small green salad as a side, sectioning a grapefruit to throw in, and tossed it all in some olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  I also made an additional side of a watermelon salad – a very refreshing side to accompany just about any meal.  It’s very easy to make.  I buy one of those small watermelons at the grocery store, cut the rind off, then cut the melon into cubes and pack them in storage containers to keep in the fridge.  To put the salad together, you just take a handful or two of the cubes, pile them on a plate and season with crushed pepper and just a hint of some sea salt, then drizzle with some good ages balsamic.  If you want a little extra kick, you can grate some parmesan over it too. 

After the chicken was done, I pulled it out of the oven, plated it, then sat down to enjoy.  I was a little leery of the ginger.  As it was baking, there was a very strong aroma that wasn’t ginger or grapefruit, so I was afraid it might have been very off in flavor.  I can report that thankfully, it was another success.  The chicken was again moist and flavorful.  The ginger complimented the grapefruit very well, though admittedly the sauce I had made from the marinade was a tad sweet for my taste, but it had enough tang to make up for the sweetness.

My next experiment (probably tomorrow night) will be grapefruit and cinnamon.  Fingers crossed!