Maple/Mustard Glazed Chicken

This week's recipe is inspired by a meal I saw on http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/ . Having said that, I think enough alterations were made to the original that I have to take the credit/blame for this one. Some of these changes were made out of laziness on my part, some were a result of necessary improvisation.

Maple/Mustard Glazed Chicken was not a rousing success, but neither do I believe it to be a lost cause. It's got potential.

Ingredients:

4-6 Chicken Breasts

8 Tablespoons of Maple Syrup

1 Cup of Dijon Mustard

4 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar

1 Teaspoon of Thyme

2 Eggs

Flour

Bread Crumbs/Oatmeal (explanation forthcoming, I promise)

Steps/Analysis:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine the maple syrup, mustard, brown sugar, and thyme in a bowl and stir to combine.

Fill three shallow bowls separately with flour, the beaten eggs, and a bread crumb/oatmeal mixture.

Now, before I had gone grocery shopping for this meal, I checked the refrigerator and pantry for items I already had at hand. I saw a canister of bread crumbs and happily checked it off of my list. However, when it came time to cook, I discovered that the container was practically empty. I searched for a new one to no avail. I saw the oatmeal and thought I remembered reading about meats crusted in oatmeal before, so I augmented my bread crumb supply with it. I don't necessarily recommend this, but it seemed to work out well enough.

Trim any excess fat off of the chicken breasts and cut into single portions. Set a large pan over Medium-High heat and pour in enough oil to coat the bottom.

Dredge your breasts in the flour first, then the egg, and, finally, the bread crumbs/oatmeal and place directly in the pan. Get a nice, brown crust on both sides, but don't worry about cooking each breast through. Once you have the crust, remove the chicken to a lubricated baking dish.

When all of the chicken is in the baking dish, pour on the glaze evenly and place it in the oven for about 10 minutes to finish cooking.

Serving/Notes:

The maple syrup/mustard mixture ended up being less a glaze than a thick, heavy, smothering blanket. We all ended up scraping most of it off on our plates. The flavors were nice, though a little heavy on the mustard. I would try to balance the sweetness better the next time.

The oatmeal crust was pretty successful and starting the chicken out in the pan helped the meat retain all its juices throughout the cooking process.

I kept the sides simple, opting for mixed vegetables and biscuits and creating a country-style illusion.