Maple-Mustard Glazed Chicken

January 2012 Recipe #3

Maple-Mustard Glazed Chicken with Brussels Sprouts and rice pilaf

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

• 3 Boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 teaspoon black pepper and salt
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon mustard

Steps:


1. Preheat oven to 400°

1. 2. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Sprinkle chicken with pepper and salt. Add chicken to pan; saute 2 minutes on each side or until browned.

2. 3. Remove chicken from pan. Add broth, syrup, thyme, and garlic to pan; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. 

1. 4. Add vinegar and mustard; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. 
2. 5. Return chicken to pan, and spoon mustard mixture over chicken. 

1. 6. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until the chicken is done. 
2. 
   
3. 7. Remove chicken from pan; let stand 5 minutes. Place pan over medium heat; cook mustard mixture 2 minutes or until liquid is syrupy, stirring frequently. 

I also made a couple of side dishes for this chicken. The rice pilaf was from a box but the Brussels sprouts were all me. Here's what I needed to make them:

• Ingredients:
  
• 1 bushel of Brussels sprouts
• 3 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
• 1 scallion thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Salt and Pepper
• 
  

Steps:

1. Cut the sprouts in half and the garlic and scallions into thin slices.

                        

2. Heat a skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil and add the sprouts. Cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add scallion and garlic to pan and cook 3 more minutes.

4. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt and pepper and cook 3 more minutes.

5. Remove from heat and drizzle balsamic vinegar over sprouts, stir and serve.

Final Product:

                        

Not only was this a great meal, but I managed to do it all in 30 minutes! I know this because when I started to make the rice How I Met Your Mother was starting in syndication and once I was done it was time for the season premier of 30 Rock. 

The original recipe for this dish, as it appeared in Cooking Light magazine, called for 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Fuck that. First of all, I'm not going to measure my olive oil in teaspoons and secondly, olive oil is delicious and 2 teaspoons is not nearly enough for me. Also, the original recipe called for "stone-ground mustard" I have no idea what that is so I used Grey Poupon. I don't know if that's right but it worked for this dish.

I also added a little bit more chicken broth as I wanted more glaze for the chicken. Once the chicken was done cooking in the oven the maple syrup glaze was thick and covered most of the chicken nicely. What's even better is that the chicken was moist and perfectly cooked. The sprouts and rice pilaf complimented the chicken nicely.

5 out of 5 stars

Leftovers: I made just enough of the chicken to have for lunch for the next day. Cooking for one can be depressing, but at least I had a great lunch the next day. Glass half full, people!