Thyme Traveling Orange Maple Chicken

Back when I started this blog the goal was to make a new dish every other week.  With a few exceptions I was able to meet this goal.  If you look though the back catalog of post you will find it's almost all about food.  You will also find that in almost every of one them Laura is mentioned.  Then had my accident and cooking, along with most everything else became very difficult.  After nearly a year of physical therapy, things are, while not back to normal (I'm still in a bit of constant but manageable pain), cooking is still a little difficult for me.

I'm having a little trouble getting used to cooking for just me.  I have only really cooked a few times since the breakup and when I have I have done little more than followed the recipe I have been given.  Mostly I have been just getting take out or eating quick dirty things like cereal or hot dogs cooked on the Forman.  It's not that I miss her, which I do from time to time (truth be told I have moments of missing all of my ex, all of could have beens and never wases, that just how I am) but I miss having someone to cook for.  I like having someone waiting with excitement about what I was about to create.  I like the validation of seeing one enjoy what I have made.

Yesterday was a truly shitty day at work.  Without going into too many details, everything took longer than it should and I had three separate projects that all need to be done yesterday.  Oh and did I mention that we are moving to a new building on Friday and I've barely started packing.  It was a very draining day.

The silver lining was that I did manage to find that energy to write nearly 500 words after I finished up my work for the day.  I find it easier to write in my office than at home.  Mainly because my desk at work is ergonomic, while my desk at home is designed for a Commodore 64.  That is not actually a joke; my parents bought the desk specifically for our Commodore 64.  The down side is that it was nearly 6:30 by the time I got home.

The day before was Labor Day and I had decided to try my hand at cooking, or at least making the marinade to cook later.  I had a bit of trouble sleeping the night before and end up dragging my feet for most of the day.  By the time I got around to making the marinade, there wasn't really enough time for the chicken to marinate.  I left it in the fridge overnight and had a bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats with a side of Deep Space Nine on Netflix.  But I did feel a little spark of fun and creativity while created the marinade.  I took a Tangerine-Maple glaze as my staring off point.  From there I ripped out over half the ingredients and added in or change the amounts of twice that many.  Making a creation all my own.

Thyme Orange Maple Marinate

What you will need:

6 skinless boneless chicken thighs

4 cups of orange juice, not from concentrate

6 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 orange

1/3 cup of maple syrup

2 tablespoons of brags soy amino

½ teaspoon of poultry seasoning

¼ teaspoon of curry powder

¼ teaspoon of Hungarian hot paprika

3 bay leaves

½ tablespoon of ground black pepper

2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

A medium saucepan

A zester

A juicer/orange squiser

A large liquid measuring cup

Directions

• Zest the whole Orange and put the zest aside
• Squeeze the juice from the Orange into the measuring cup
• Add enough orange juice to the measuring cup to equal 4 cups
• Add the orange juice and oil to the saucepan
• Bring mixture to a boil
• Pull all the leaves off the Thyme and add to the mixture
• Add the Maple Syrup, Soy Amino, Bay leaves and spices to the pan
• Stir periodically and let the mixture boil down to around two cups
• Turn off heat
• Remove bay leaves and add zest
• Stir and then let mixture cool
• Add chicken and mixture to a freezer bag (or storage bag, but I find freezer bags less likely to leak) and place in the refrigerator overnight.

I come home to the chicken marinated and waiting for me in the fridge.  After the long day I had I was in no mood to do anything.  After siting for five minutes, I get up and start to make the breading for the chicken.  I get the panko crumb mixture prepared and I just run out of juice.  I say screw it and end up heating up some Wegman’s frozen chicken strips.  I pair this with a big glass of water an episode of Deep Space Nine.  By the end of the episode I'm feeling much better.  I realize I hadn't eaten anything since 11:30 that morning.   Not wanting the chicken to go to waste I proceed to gut it out and create my newest dish.  For the first time in nearly a year I have blast cooking.  I'm putting in spice by gut feeling and making notations so I can write it up for the blog.  I have rediscovered my love of cooking.  Tasting the finished product I can tell I enjoyed making it.  Like all creations, the joy in making it shows through.  You can be the most talented person in the world but if you don't like what you're creating, it will always be flawed.

In writing this up I'm happy that the food has turned out so well and that I had fun, but I still have lingering melancholically.  I still wish that I had someone to cook for, someone to share this with.  Telling my co-workers and reader about the awesome dish isn't enough.

Here is the rest of the recipe

What you will need

Olive oil

2 cups of Panko crumbs

3 table spoons of Italian seasoning

1tablespoon of thyme

3 eggs

½ teaspoon of poultry seasoning

Flour

A pie dish

A large baking pan

A large frying pan

2 mixing bows

Paper plates

Directions

• Put the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat them thoroughly
• Mix in 2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning
• Fill the pie dish with flour
• Add the Panko, Thyme, Poultry Seasoning and rest of the Italian Seasoning into the other bowl and mix together
• Spread Panko mixture out on to the baking pan
• Take each piece of marinated chicken and dredge it thought the flour then set aside on a paper plate
• Take each floured piece of chicken and dredge it though the eggs then coat with Panko crumbs, then place it on the paper plate
• Heat oil in frying pan
• Fry each piece of chicken till golden brown on each side, about 1 and half to 2 minutes per side. 

I paired the chicken with Jasmine Rice. my famous Old Man Mitchell’s Tarragon Carrots and some raw Sugar Snap Peas.

Hope you find it as tasty as I did