It is sugaring season again here. Last week on my commute I saw the first sapbuckets out - a real sign that spring is on its way. We'll probably go out for breakfast at one of the sugar houses next weekend. (We were planning to go this weekend, but just didn't manage to haul ourselves out of bed on time, what with the change in the clocks and a late night for all at a party on Saturday!)
Maple syrup is NOT just for pancakes though. At our local sugar house they sell jugs of syrup of course, but they sell other maple products too. You can buy maple candies, and maple cream. (Think creamed honey, but maple flavoured.) You can buy candy floss (cotton candy) made from maple sugar. They sell 'sugar-on-snow' too, which is a cooked down version of maple syrup poured over a tray of snow so that it cools to a consistency where you can pick it up with fingers or a fork and eat it like candy. You can even do this at home (unlike making maple syrup!) Traditionally it's followed by a pickle to kill the sweetness.
One of my favourite chicken recipes calls for honey, but I replaced it with maple syrup once because I had no honey and it was delicious. There are more recipes using maple syrup here, here and here.
PEPPERY CHICKENI posted about maple sugaring last year, here, here and here. If you're in the north-eastern United States and looking for information about sugar houses that you can visit, try these sites:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup sliced mushrooms
Marinade ingredients:1 tsp olive oilMix all the marinade ingredients and pour over the chicken. The honey or maple syrup is easier to measure if you pour it into the same spoon you used for the olive oil - the remaining film of oil on the spoon helps the sticky sweet stuff slide right off! Refrigerate for about an hour. It's definitely better if you marinate it, rather than just pouring the sauce over the chicken and cooking it right away - which of course I do on occasion when I haven't planned ahead! You can marinade it for longer than an hour and it doesn't seem to harm it.
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup (but not the fake maple syrup rubbish!)
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp allspice (didn't have any of this the first few times I made this recipe and it was still good)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (I tend not to bother with this, preferring simply to add pepper to taste once the chicken is cooked.)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, and bake the chicken until cooked.
Slice the mushrooms thinly and add to the sauce surrounding the chicken for the last few minutes of cooking time. I've sometimes added sun-dried tomatoes to the sauce at the beginning of the cooking time too.
Serve with rice or couscous.
6 comments:
I adore maple syrup although it is quite expensive here. I remember having it in New England on bacon and gammon. It was heavenly.
Oh maple candy, I remember bringing some back for my coworkers when I went home to visit. One bite apparently sent then all into a diabetic coma. Mmm sugar shock.
I was actually pretty shocked when I moved to the Midwest how little maple syrup people used. Many people had only had the gross ass fake stuff. But I guess you can take the girl out New England, but you can't take the New England out of the girl. So I put maple butter on my toast and cook regular food with syrup as well using it for pancakes and such just like I always did.
YUM! I am probably not going to actually make this but will spend many happy minutes imagining that I will do it for my grateful family (this last also fantasy as kids refuse most food and throw on floor) They would eat the candy floss in a trice, though.
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On the occassions I've had real maple syrup, I found that I actually preferred artificial syrups, especially the Mrs. Butterworth's brand.
When I moved overseas, there was an opened bottle of Mrs. Butterworth's syrup in my things, which I didn't use for several years. When I did get around to using the rest, I had quite a surprise. Somehow, the some of the sugar in it seemed to have turned into alcohol! It was still good, but a litttle strange.
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Maple Syrup is just one of those American things that whilst pleasant are not something I seek out.
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