Quick Sunday Glaze

We eat chicken…often.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love chicken.  It is versatile, easy, and budget friendly.  That being said, the truth is I would LIKE to eat more red meat.  On the opposite side of the coin, I would also like to live a long and healthy life.  Despite my love of red meat, I’m sure that my arteries thank me for the limitations.

Chicken, in its frequency of use, can get old.  Let’s face it, chicken can be down right boring.  This is the reason I take every opportunity to mix it up, try a new recipe, and make chicken more than just chicken.  I try cooking it differently or mixing it with different sauces or spices.  In the end, as boring as chicken could be, I can’t remember the last time I was bored with it.

Last night I knew I wanted to have chicken that was decently healthy but that tasted like it was not healthy.  That is always an important first step, because sometimes I do want it to taste light and healthy.  Not on a Sunday, though.  Sundays are mildly gluttonous in our household.  Since I knew I wanted a richer flavor, I bought thighs at the market instead of white meat.  The dark meat gives them a deeper, fattier flavor.  I trim off the excess fat and they still end up juicier than if you were to use, say, a chicken breast.  I also knew I wanted something sweet…

Sauces can be really easy.  Since I am a) from the South and b) a huge fan a BBQ, it makes sense that I would turn to the sticky sweet side of the culinary aisle when given the chance.  A quick and relatively healthy way to make a sweet sauce is to cook down (or reduce) something that is naturally sweet.  I used a single serving bottle of orange juice (pure juice, not from concentrate) as the base for my sauce.  First, though, I sautéed a 1/2 cup fine dice shallots in a sauce pan with a little oil, salt, and pepper.  Then I added the juice and brought it to a boil.  You can even throw in some herbs (I used thyme from my window box herb garden) and a dash more off salt and pepper and let it cook down until you can see it thickening up. This shouldn’t take more than 15 to 20 minutes. Since I used shallots and full sticks of thyme, once the sauce had reduced, I strained it.

After I strained it, I threw a couple of thyme leaves for color and let it come to room temperature.  This reduction alone, could work for a great glaze.  I wanted more, though, so I also stirred in a tablespoon or Worcestershire sauce and about 3 tablespoons of Maple Syrup ( the real kind.)

For the chicken, I just gave it a little salt and pepper and gave it a good seer in a wicked hot pan and olive oil.

Once it had a good seer on both sides, I threw it in a 400 degree oven to cook off.  This should only take about 15 – 20 minutes and can be done while the sauce is reducing.  Once the chicken was about 5 to 7 minutes from being finished, I started basting it with the sauce.

Do this a couple of times before it is finished and when the chicken is cooked, you have some sinfully sticky chicken thighs.

So, it isn’t the healthiest of all routes, but at the end of the day it really isn’t much worse that having a glass of juice.  The best part is that you use another burner on the stove and simultaneously make some quinoa or couscous and in under 30 minutes, you have made yourself a finger licking good Sunday meal.