Maple & Orange Chicken With Peppered Pecans

Submitted by SugaredAlmond

"This is lovely - sweet, sticky, juicy chicken, with the peppery bite of the pecans - and it smells heavenly when it's cooking. I like to serve this with soothing mashed potatoes and buttered greens. Prep time doesn't include marinading."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 40mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 2

ingredients

• 2 boneless chicken breasts
• 2 oranges, juice of, only
• 1 teaspoon English mustard
• 6 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 teaspoon sunflower oil
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

• For the Peppered Pecans

• 1⁄2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 1⁄2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons butter
• 4 ounces pecan halves

directions

1. Mix orange juice, mustard, garlic, maple syrup, sunflower oil and vinegar in a bowl. Marinade chicken for at least 4 hours, but overnight is even better.
2. For the pecans, melt the butter, and stir in tabasco, pepper flakes and garlic. Stir in the pecans. Spread onto a flat baking sheet and bake on a really low temp - approx 120C for an hour. Be careful that the pecans don't burn though.
3. After marinading, remove the chicken and pour marinade into a small pan, bring to the boil, stirring until the marinade reduces to a sticky glaze. The oil will stop the Maple syrup from burning.
4. Grill or barbecue the chicken breasts, turning and brushing with the glaze regularly until the chicken is cooked but still juicy.
5. Serve the chicken with the remaining glaze as a sauce, along with the peppered pecans and whatever else takes your fancy.

Reviews

[padreaming]

Even after the chicken was marinated for 24 hours it didn't have any flavor. Peppered pecans were good on a salad.

 

[PaulaG]

This is wonderful. I have had it marked to make since ZWT and finally got around to making it. I had some issues with using the marinade that raw chicken had sat in so I mixed up a fresh batch, cooked down and used to baste the chicken as it cooked. It is delicious and full of flavor.

 

[Brenda.]

I chose this recipe as part of the "HEADS UP! You ZWTII players who miss your teammates....... event" SugaredAlmond was a fellow Cavorting Chef and our English Rose. Louise, this is an amazing recipe! I had the same problem as some of the other reviewers, as I couldn't stop eating the toasted pecans! Sticky, gooey, and yummy. Served with <a href="/169674">Mashed Potatoes Ol&eacute;</a> for a perfect dinner. Thanks so much for sharing. Nick's Mom

 

[Kate in Katoomba]

We loved this recipe and will definitely make this again. Thanks a lot.

 

[COOKGIRl]

I used up my year's supply of paper napkins during this meal! Sticky is right! Spicy is right! Baked in oven, but watch carefully so the chicken doesn't burn! Cover with foil if necessary. The suggestion of "soothing mashed potatoes" is apt and twofold: you need something to sop of the syrupy juices and a counter-balance for the spiciness factor. Served with freshly picked pole beans, too and some crusty whole wheat bread! MMmmm!! (I ate most of the toasted pecans BEFORE they ever made it into the dish. Had to start over.) Good job!! cg