Chicken with Maple Syrup

I stumbled upon this Chicken in Maple Syrup recipe while I was trying to get ideas about what to do with some leftover sliced ham, and apples that had been in my crisper so long that I was sick of looking at them.  Although the chicken with maple syrup recipe does not call for apples, I thought this chicken would be fantastic with a side of baked apples, and since the oven would be at 350 for a while, it seemed like a pretty efficient use of resources.  Plus, I was feeling pretty lazy, so win-win.

Speaking of laziness, I varied from the recipe in a few ways.  The main thing is that I only used one pan for all the steps, my Lodge cast iron skillet.  I also omitted savory and chives, because I did not have any handy.  Finally, I added pomegranate juice because it seemed like it would taste good, and it did, so yay for that!  I do not normally have pomegranate juice, though, so in the future I would probably make this with either apple or cranberry juice, or even just some water.  At any rate, it turned out well and it was a great change of pace from the old chicken dinner routine!

Chicken with Maple Syrup

 

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Author: Cast Iron & Wine

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts
• 3 large mushrooms, finely chopped
• ½ cup finely diced ham
• ½ stick butter
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 heaping teaspoon chopped garlic
• maple syrup to taste
• flour, for coating
• salt and pepper, to taste
• ¼ cup water or juice (I used pomegranate juice)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Fry onion and garlic in oil.
3. Add mushrooms, a little butter and continue to fry.
4. Add ham and fry until onions are clear and mushrooms are slightly soft. Remove from pan and set aside.
5. While ham, onions, and mushrooms are frying, prepare chicken breasts by covering both sides with flour, salt and pepper.
6. Add a splash of oil to the pan and heat. Add chicken to the pan and fry each side until slightly golden.
7. Remove chicken and set aside.
8. Add juice or water and a little bit of the maple syrup to pan and heat until bubbling.
9. Add ham, onion, and mushroom mixture back into the pan and combine with the juice and syrup mixture.
10. Drizzle a little more maple syrup and mix through. Turn off flame.
11. Return chicken breasts to the pan, covering chicken with the ham mixture.
12. Place skillet into preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
13. Remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving.

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