Maple Rosemary Chicken

This is one of my most asked for recipes at the Farmer’s Markets. Usually it is my daughter, Kim, extolling the virtues of this recipe.

When Kim was younger she swore she hated maple syrup (all syrups, jams, and jellies to be exact.)  About 10 years ago I made this chicken recipe and Kim DEVOURED it, I don’t even think she chewed. “Oh my god Mom! What did you do to this chicken?! It’s AMAZING,” she exclaimed. I must have done the super-villain cackle, why I smothered it with maple syrup. That is the moment she stopped “hating” maple syrup.

She tells people at the market about her Maple-Come-To-Jesus-Moment and then proceeds to tell them this recipe. I would be willing to bet that no one has actually remembered it enough to make it, it really should have been one of the first things to go on this blog. Oh well, it’s going on now.

Maple Rosemary Chicken

Ingredients 
Chicken breast or drumsticks or thighs or whole roast chicken
1 Cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
3 garlic cloves (or two if you’t not big into garlic)
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary. Or 3 teaspoons of chopped rosemary
1/4 cup of grapeseed oil (or any cooking oil you like)

For this recipe you can use dried rosemary but I really wouldn’t recommend it, it is just not quite the same.

Method
Take out a medium sized mixing bowl
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees  or turn on the BBQ, however you are planning to do it.
Add maple syrup, lemon juice and oil into the mixing bowl
Chop the garlic or run it through a garlic press put it in the mixing bowl
Finely chop the rosemary, chop it as fine as you can get it and add it to the mixing bowl
Take out a 9×12 casserole dish (or really whatever size dish will fit your chicken, but make sure it is decently deep for the marinade)
Put your chicken in the dish and pour your mixture on top
Work it in with your hands and make sure every piece of the chicken is covered in marinade with enough left for the bottom on the dish. I KNOW, some of you can’t handle touching chicken, in this case just work it in well with a spoon or a spatula or something – ya weirdo.
Bake or BBQ the chicken breasts or thighs or drums in the oven at 375 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink.
BBQing is up to you. I love this dish BBQ’d
YUM! I LOVE this dish!!