Glazed Orange Rosemary Chicken Breast

Happy Monday, Y’all!

Although earlier was not very happy. I had to stay home sick today from work. I’ll spare you the details. Luckily, there is a Minute Clinic inside the pharmacy down the road from my house.

I put on the cutest black and white flowered wrap-around dress that I’d gotten from Old Navy. I have been super excited to wear this dress. Being 5’1″ tall usually means that I can’t find a maxi dress that isn’t so long it looks like I’m playing dress up from a giant’s closet. Old Navy has a Petite Department on their website and…tadaaaaa…this season they’re selling maxi-dresses for us vertically challenged folk.

It was sooooooo windy today. And although I felt horrible, I was super excited to be wearing this dress. (It’s the small things, you know) I’d even dug out some wedge sandals. SCORE! I pulled up into the CVS parking lot and, very lady-like, got out of my car. I took two steps. Out of nowhere, I got hit with a blast of wind not unlike a mini tornado of doom. Yeah. You know what happened next. The super cute wrap-around dress I’d been coveting since last summer was suddenly NOT wrapped around. Imagine: Curtains blowing open.

At least there were only ten people in the parking lot. *Note Sarcasm*

I like to look on the sunny side of things, though. At least I’d shaved my legs today. 😉

Speaking of sunny things, today I have for you a nice Orange Rosemary chicken breast! (See how I worked that transition there?)

On a side note, aren’t y’all excited that the Farmer’s Markets are coming out of hibernation?

Here’s a lovely Rosemary Olive Oil that you can find at many DFW area markets or online here 

 

Roasted Sweet Potatoes are the perfect complement to the chicken. I roasted mine for five minutes before squeezing the chicken in.

Isn’t fresh citrus juice just loverly?

The Orange/Rosemary flavor combo is a nice departure from your typical lemon marinade. The glaze is simply brought to a boil,

allowed to thicken, and finished off with a bit of unsalted butter and fresh parsley. Divine!

Keep in mind that you’ll be making the marinade and the start of the pan sauce in one bowl. Before adding your chicken, you must first remove half the liquid.

It is important to keep your sauce base away from raw chicken germs!

Glazed Orange Rosemary Chicken Breast with a side of Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Serves 2, may easily be doubled or tripled

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 cup Rosemary Olive Oil (You can easily substitute 1/2 cup olive oil plus 1 T. fresh, minced Rosemary or 1 tsp. dried Rosemary)

1 T. course ground Dijon mustard

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

2 chicken breasts, boneless skinless

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 tsp. olive oil

sea salt and pepper

2 T. pure maple syrup

2 T. butter

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together fresh orange juice, rosemary olive oil, Dijon Mustard, sea salt, and pepper. Remove half of this mixture and place into the refrigerator. To your large bowl, add in your chicken. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes to a few hours, turning occasionally. You can also pour the marinade into a gallon sized Ziploc bag and add your chicken. Squeeze out all air and refrigerate. This alternate method is helpful if you don’t want to be bothered with flipping your chicken.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3. Toss diced sweet potatoes with 1 tsp. olive oil and sea salt and pepper to taste. Please sweet potatoes onto foil lined baking sheet. Roast for five minutes.

4. Remove sweet potatoes from oven and stir around. Place your marinated chicken (discard used marinade) amongst the sweet potatoes.

5. Roast for 25 minutes, stirring potatoes every so often to ensure they do not burn on one side. (Your chicken breast should be 165 degrees according to a meat thermometer.)

6. While your chicken is roasting, make your Orange Rosemary Glaze.

7. In a saucepan, combine previously reserved orange juice mixture with 2 T. pure maple syrup. Whisk over medium-high heat and bring to a low boil.

8. After mixture has been at a low boil for a few minutes, you will notice it begins to thicken. This is seen by the bubbles “lingering” at the top of the glaze without immediately popping. This means your glaze is D-O-N-E.

9. Remove saucepan from heat and whisk in butter and fresh parsley. Spoon over chicken and serve.

You can most definitely grill your marinated chicken breasts and serve with this glaze. I bet it would be amazing!

Okay, confessional aside…I don’t often grill because I’m scared of fire. Don’t laugh. I’m also scared of broilers. And now, thanks to the Dallas Winds, I am terrified of mean,tiny tornadoes. I’ll stick with jeans from now on.