Maple Glazed Chicken

Another book that has made it onto my bookshelf recently is The Healthy Hedonist: More Than 200 Delectable Flexitarian Recipes for Relaxed Daily Feasts. Kornfeld teaches cooking classes all over the United States for Sur La Table, and is the author of a number of vegetarian/vegan/ cookbooks. The Healthy Hedonist is what I would call a “flexitarian” cookbook – the focus is vegetarian, but she has a good selection of fish and poultry recipes, as well. The recipes are creative, use healthy ingredients, and a lot of them have a definite Asian or Latino bent.

After reading some reviews on Amazon, I decided that I had to make the maple glazed chicken for Master Chow, a chicken lover if ever there was one. Anyone who reads my blog can see that I tend to bake a LOT, and I realized that my cooking was getting into a rut. I wasn’t challenging myself enough, or adding new recipes to my repertoire.

The chicken was a hit – Master Chow has asked me to put it on the “repeat list.” That is always a thrill! I love it when he likes something enough to have it again. I have a lot of recipes bookmarked in The Healthy Hedonist, so hopefully I’ll be sharing a few more with you on this blog.  Recipe after the jump . . . .

Roast Chicken with Maple Glaze
Adapted from a recipe by Myra Kornfeld in The Healthy Hedonist

One 3 to 4 pound chicken, rinsed and patted dry (organic if you can manage it)
Kosher salt
Black pepper
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
zest of half a lemon
juice of half a lemon

Preheat the oven to 350F, and center the rack in the middle.

Using kitchen shears, remove the backbone of the chicken (you can save the bone for stock). Press on the breast to flatten the chicken. Rub kosher salt and pepper on the inside and of the outside of the chicken, then place it in the oven for about 40 minutes.

To make the glaze: In a small saucepan, combine the syrup, orange juice, mustard, olive oil, thyme, cayenne, lemon zest, lemon juice, and 1 tsp. salt. Place the pan on medium heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 5 minutes until thickened. Set aside.

After the chicken has been cooking for about 40 minutes, pull it out and brush the glaze onto the skin. Rotate the pan (so that the side of the pan that was towards the back is now towards the front), and bake until a thermometer inserted in the thigh reads 175F, another 30 minutes (but his depends on your oven and the size of the chicken). Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes before serving, drizzled with pan juices.