The Art of Cooking Real Food: Maple Orange Chicken

A little more #citruslove coming at you today with a healthy, easy, tasty dinner ready in about 30 minutes.

The sauce for this chicken includes orange juice, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, and garlic. When I was mixing it together, my son asked what it was. The look of repulsion that crossed his face when I told him made me laugh. "Do we have to eat it?" he asked. Then I made him try some. He dipped his finger into it once, then twice, then he went for a spoon - it tastes a lot better than it sounds. It was his suggestion to top the dish with pecans, but we didn't have any (which is why they are not in the picture). I must say, I agree with him that chopped pecans sprinkled over the chicken and sauce, along with the green onions, would have taken this dinner from "pretty darn good" to "pretty darn great". The kid's got promise.

When mixing the sauce together, you could put it into a bowl and mix with a wire whisk or a fork, but I much prefer to do it the hillbilly way; dump everything into a jar, screw the lid on it, and shake like crazy. It's kind of fun, too.

Maple Orange Chicken
serves 4

Juice of 2 oranges (about 1/2 cup)
Zest of 1 orange (about 2 Tbs)
1/2 c pure maple syrup
1 garlic clove, pressed
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed (or 1 Tbs fresh rosemary, snipped)
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs butter
4 organic, free range chicken breasts (de-boned and skinned)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs non-GMO corn starch (such as Rumford Non-GMO Corn Starch)
1 Tbs water
Hot cooked brown rice
2 green onions, chopped
handful of chopped pecans, optional

In a medium bowl,whisk together the orange juice, orange zest, maple syrup, garlic, balsamic vinegar, and rosemary. You may also do this in a mason jar with a tight fitting lid; shake well. Set aside.

In a 12 inch skillet over medium high heat, melt olive oil and butter. Brown chicken breasts in the butter/olive oil for approximately 2 minutes on each side, or until nicely browned.

Remove chicken to a plate. Reduce heat to medium. Pour the orange juice and maple syrup mixture into the pan; scrape bottom to remove any tasty browned bits.

Place the chicken back into the pan. Cover, and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer chicken in the sauce for approximately 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink, turning once about halfway through the time.

Meanwhile, mix the cornstarch and water.

Remove chicken from pan. Stir the cornstarch and water mixture into the orange and maple chicken broth. Simmer for about a minute, or until mixture is thick.

Serve chicken over rice. Top with sauce, green onions, and pecans (if desired).

Please join in on the #citruslove fun by linking up any citrus recipe from the month of January 2012. Don't forget to link back to this post so that your readers know to stop by the #citruslove event! The twitter hashtag is #citruslove.

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