Maple-Orange Glazed Chicken

I just started a subscription to Cook's Country. I used to subscribe to Cooks Illustrated - which I loved - a great cooking magazine and you can't fail using any of their recipes. Anyway, the same company publishes Cook's Country. I decided to get it for a change. It seemed like it might have more "everyday" recipes. It has a section with 30 minute recipes every month. These are not the kind of 30 minute recipes that have a can of Campbell's soup as the main ingredient, not that there is anything wrong with that occasionally.

Anyway my first magazine just came last week and it has quite a few recipes I want to try. I tried their Beef Stroganoff, a crockpot recipe, last week and it was very good. This week I decided to try the Maple-Orange Glazed Chicken. This was one of the 30 minute recipes and it was very easy to make.

You start out mixing the ingredients for the glaze - just five ingredients. Then you season the chicken breasts and fry them on one side. Then you put them in the oven to cook the rest of the way. When done cooking you take the chicken out and cook up the sauce in the hot pan.

I thought it was kind of silly that the recipe mentioned that the handle on the pan would be hot after it comes out of the oven, duh. Well guess what I did. Unfortunately the recipe didn't mention that the handle is still incredibly hot 3 minutes later after cooking the sauce. Yes - I burnt my fingers pretty good.

The recipe came out good. I wasn't expecting it to be very orangy since the only orange was a small amount of zest. Well it had good orange flavor and nice sweetness from the maple. It was messy and sticky, Lara thought we needed wet naps.

Maple-Orange Glazed Chicken
(Source: Cook's Country October/November 2008)

Serves 4

• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, halved crosswise
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Whisk maple syrup, mustard, zest, vinegar, and thyme in bowl. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat until oil is just smoking. Cook chicken skin-side down, until well browned, about 5 minutes. Turn chicken skin side up and transfer chicken to oven. Cook until chicken is deep golden brown and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate and tent with foil.
3. Wearing oven mitt (pan handle will be very hot), pour off any fat in pan. Add maple mixture and cook over medium heat, scraping up any browned bits with spoon, until thick and syrupy, about three minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Off heat, return chicken to pan and turn until well coated with glaze.