Honey-Mustard Chicken

Colonel Mustard is in the Library with a jar of honey in his hand. What’s on his mind? Remember that board game – Clue? If you don’t have a clue as to what I’m talking about (no pun intended or maybe pun intended), please be patient and bear with me. I always liked the name Colonel Mustard and would find ways to work it into conversations. Am I dating myself again?

I’m not the biggest fan of honey. I’m more partial to maple syrup. But there are a few things in which honey is key:

• Honey with apples for the New Year (also excellent with challah).
• Buttered whole-grain toast sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with honey.
• Honey drizzled over goat cheese on  flatbread.
• A bit of honey in fresh fruit smoothies (see Sunshine Fruit Smoothie post)
• Honey in  honey cake (go to  Honey Cake – A Lighter Take post!)
• Honey in Honey-Mustard Chicken (here we are).

Perhaps Colonel Mustard is thinking about what to prepare for dinner…

Begin with the two essentials. OK, three.

Add a couple more ingredients to enrich the glaze.

Combine all ingredients for the glaze in a small bowl. Then cover it and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 2 hours for the flavors to marry.

We’re gettin’ married in this cup here!

I love the aroma and taste of fresh rosemary. What I don’t love is not having the patience to chop up fresh rosemary needles (is that the correct term?) and getting them stuck between my teeth. Solution? See below. I get the essence of rosemary without the rosemary poking at me.

Tuck rosemary under chicken

Spread glaze all over top with back of spoon and encourage glaze to run down the sides.

Add a bit of color by sprinkling paprika on top.

My friend Frank has this nifty trick to check for the doneness of fish, meat or chicken that involves one’s thumb and pressing the protein in question. Sorry Frank, it sounded very handy when you first described it to me and I recall that an excellent chef taught it to you, but for the life of me, I can’t remember the particulars. Oh well, I don’t have a restaurant (maybe next time) and the diner (mainly my Novio) won’t mind being served a cut piece.  Not that I cut all the pieces. Just the biggest juiciest one. If that’s cooked through (n0 pink inside), chicken’s done.

After tenting with foil to gently let the heat inside the chicken continue the cooking process, transfer to heatproof platter. If re-heating later, go for under-heating versus overheating. We want to keep that delicious chicken nice and moist.

Easy enough for any night; elegant enough for a special meal

Honey-Mustard Chicken

Ingredients:

Directions:

Whisk together mustard, garlic, vinegar, honey, oil, salt and pepper, and Spanish paprika (if using).

Cover and let set at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours before using.

Preheat oven to 375º.

Rinse and pat chicken completely dry with paper towels.  Lay rosemary in a greased roasting pan (if using dried rosemary, sprinkle it over the bottom of the greased pan.

Lay chicken pieces on top and lightly sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.

Spoon honey-mustard mixture over chicken and bake for 30 minutes or until the pink is gone from the center of the chicken.  The best way to find out is to cut through the center of one the larger pieces.  If it is done, it’s time for you to have a sample.

Remove from oven and loosely tent with aluminum foil, to slowly continue the cooking process.

Delicious served hot, room temperature, or cold.

Serves 6.

bb notes:

Spanish paprika comes in a tin and can be found in most markets.  It is a sweet-hot paprika with a smoky barbeque flavor.

If you prefer a mellower flavor, substitute sweet paprika for Spanish paprika, or sprinkle sweet paprika on top.

For a slightly different take, add 2 T. apricot preserves to the glaze before spreading on chicken.

Here are the baking times for different cuts of chicken (remember, ovens vary.)

1. thick chicken breasts – 30 minutes
2. chicken thighs or legs – 40-45 minutes
3. pounded chicken breasts (also known as schnitzel)  – 14 minutes

»And here’s the honey-mustard schnitzel we ate the other night, served with roasted brussels sprouts and brown rice flecked with herbs.

Baked honey-mustard chicken schnitzel- chicken breast pounded thinly