Maple Chicken

From Grill It! (page 73) this is Bobby Flay's Grilled Chicken breast with Tangerine-Maple-Black pepper glaze. I first put a sauté on some chopped red onions. They smell great when sizzling up in canola oil in the skillet over the grill. Once the onions were tender, I added in Orange Zest and Orange Juice and sprigs of Thyme. All that came to a boil and then simmered until it reduced and thickened. I let that cool but not for very long, because I stirred in Maple Syrup. This formed the glaze that I brushed on the chicken in the last few minutes. This turned out to have a hot-tangy taste that terrific. 

Wisdom of the Grill. Some grillers make a tragic mistake of putting on barbeque sauces and glazes on the meat too early. These sauces and glazes have sugar in them and sugar will burn quickly. If you put the sauce or glaze on too soon, it will just make a charred-burned mess. You want some caramelization and some crispyness to the sauce or glaze – but you don’t want it blackened. Use a grill brush and get your timing down.

What was on? The Oscars. I think Sandra Bullock is great, by I think her winning was an upset and probably somewhat of a reach. We usually try to see all the films nominated for best picture, but this year there were just too many of them - ten. Last year when their were only five, the biggest selling movie, the Dark Knight was not nominated - it was #6 and therefore didn't make the cut. That sent the Dark Knight's large audience to watching other shows on Oscar night, so this year they didn't make that same "mistake" and they brought in every film that had sold any tickets at all. It was watered down. That being said, we need to go see The Hurt Locker.

The grill is nominated and wins every year!

Paul