Grilled Chicken with Tamarind Orange Glaze with Spicy Thai Pasta

Debbie Purchase, who watches Lilly 3 days a week for us, is an avid cook. She loves to try new and different kinds of foods, and has helped jump start me in the direction of some more interesting recipes than the normal rut I run in, (which usually consists of fairly boring dinners like pasta, burritos, burgers, etc.) The other day she went to the Soulard Farmer's Market, one of the oldest farmers markets in the country, which dates back to 1779. While there, she bought us some Thai noodles from a vendor called Pappardelle's. On the package of noodles was stapled a recipe for using them. We decided that we would try going to the Soulard Market ourselves to buy the ingredients for it, after hearing from Debbie about how much fun it was.

We had fun going through the various stalls and buying our weight in cheap fruit and vegetables. That night we came home and made our Thai orange/ginger chicken dish. It was delicous! Ryan grilled the chicken on the charcoal grill and managed to sear it and keep the juices inside, which made the chicken scrumptious.
Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

3/4 lb Thai Pasta

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons garlic, chopped

1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Sauce

2, 14 oz cans low-salt chicken broth

cup orange juice

1/2 cup sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 teaspoons orange zest

4 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 tablespoons tamarind paste, from Middle Eastern or Indian market

Salt and Pepper

 

1. Place chicken in shallow bowl. Whisk next 4 ingredients above in mixing bowl, pour over chicken, turn to coat and marinate covered in refrigerator for 1 to 6 hours, turning often.

2. Whisk broth, juice, sugar, 3 tablespoons butter, tamarind paste, orange zest and ginger in large saucepan. Boil mixture over medium high heat until reduced to 1 1/2 cups and glaze coats back of spoon, stirring often, about 25 minutes. (It was more like 45 minutes for us, so I'd use less liquid if possible.) Whisk in 3 tablespoons butter. Season glaze with salt and pepper.

3. Grill chicken until cooked through, basting with 1/4 cup of glaze about 5 minutes per side.

4. Meanwhile, cook pasta in 6-8 quarts of rapidly boiling water until al dente (8-10 minutes). Drain pasta and keep covered on warm serving platter.

5. Arrange pasta on individual serving plates, place chicken on top and spoon remaining 1/2 cup of glaze.