Cardamom pairs perfectly with apricots, and with a little Maderia and a bit of ginger, the sweet, bright flavor really shines.
2 cups orange juice
1 cup Maderia (the cheap california stuff will do just fine)
2 T apple cider vinegar
4 T apricot preserves (the ‘Simply Fruit‘ brand works best’)
4 apricots (2-3 for cooking, 1 or 2 for garnish)
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 T green cardamom seeds, shelled
1 chicken
1-2 T heavy cream
I shelled some green cardamom seeds, (you can also use the smokier black ones) and put them in a small food processor with a bit of orange juice to help grind them and after the were ground coarsely, added two of the pitted apricots. I cut up a chicken, put it in a bowl and covered with orange juice, vinegar, Maderia and the ground up cardamom. The bowl sat in the fridge for an hour.
I pulled the chicken out of the marinade, reserving it, and browned the pieces in a very hot, big iron skillet. The marinade went into a 4-quart pot to boil. As the chicken browned, I added a few more ground up cardamom seeds and some ginger.
When the chicken was nicely browned, and the kitchen smelled fragrant enough, I dumped the chicken into to pot of juice with a couple more pitted, cut-up apricots and a bit more orange juice and Maderia to cover the pieces. I let it simmer for about a half hour, covered for about half that time.
The squash was just browned in a pan, and the Brussel sprouts were sauteed with some good diced-up bacon. This is my favorite way to do Brussel sprouts, browning the outside, but leaving the inside crunchy. The best way to do this is with pancetta, but all I had was some Kolozsvari, the intensely smoky, salty Hungarian bacon available in many of the local independent markets like Devon Market or Lincolnwood Produce that have eastern European products.
For the finished sauce I poured about 1/2 cup of the simmering juices into a saute pan, added a couple of tablespoons of cream and reduced it to a nice sauce. There was plenty of leftover juice/sauce I can use for another meal.