Friday, May 22, 2009

Blah into Ahhhhhhh


I love going out to eat. I always try to order something new and something I could not make at home. If I got the same thing as always I might as well just save the $150 and make it myself. I love to eat I love to try new things. That being said I hate….no loath pre-fix menus. Beef? Chicken? Fish? Blah…blah…blah. I hate them so much that even for my wedding of just over 300 people I had a 12 choice menu for my guest, on top of the 4 previous courses, 2 following courses and 50+ options of food at the cocktail hours. ***now back to our regularly scheduled blog entry*** I attended a shower not to long ago and I ordered the balsamic chicken. I figured I had eaten my salad and pasta so I wasn’t that hungry and the cake looked yummy, ill only have a few bites of the dry, grilled chicken with a splash of cheap balsamic vinegar.

To my surprise this lovely, aromatic, brown gooey masterpiece came to me. One bite had such a great balance of sweetness and bite. I must try to make this at home. So I ate half ( I couldn't resist) and packed up the rest making sure to scrape the sauce that had run on to the plate back on the chicken.

A little bit of this, a dash of that, some more of this and a whole lot more of that! My first time making this recipe I wound up with about a gallon of sauce but once I got the proportions right I was golden. It was great! The same way I had it at the restaurant…perfect. The second time I though can I make it even more perfect? Sure! And I totally rocked it. I improved a perfect recipe. Oh and it is a marinade now…not just a glaze sauce!

Balsamic Chicken Marinade

¾ Cup of soy sauce
1 Cup of Balsamic Vinegar
¾ Cup Honey
2 Tablespoons of Rosemary
7 Garlic cloves (rough cut)
A few turns of the pepper mill
2 quarters of Chicken (or 4 chicken breast/half a chicken)

Prep Time: 15 minutes (marinade overnight)
Cook time: 1 hour


***FYI: you can use salt instead of soy sauce if this is something that you don’t normally have in the house. That was the original recipe. I changed it to soy because it incorporates better with the dish and I think the flavor is much better.


Whisk together the Soy sauce, Honey, Balsamic, Rosemary, Garlic and Pepper.

Separate the skin from the chicken by putting your fingers in between the meat and skin to form little pockets. The marinate will get "trapped" there.
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Add the chicken pieces to the marinade and let it sit overnight in your fridge.


After it is done marinading overnight place the chicken in a lightly greased baking dish. Spoon out some of the Garlic and Rosemary and sprinkle it on top. Reserve the liquid.




Bake at 350 Degrees for 1 hour or until the chicken is fully cooked.


Transfer the marinade into a sauce pan and reduce on low heat for about 10 minutes. Baste the chicken that is cooking in the oven once or twice with this mixture. When the chicken comes out of the oven lightly brush this sauce over the top.

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