Marinated Balsamic-Dijon Chicken (Disaster!)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26TH, 2009

1 star (out of 5 - SB's rating: oopsies!)
3 stars (out of 5 - LX's rating)

I decided to try this recipe because the ingredients looked good (and simple!), and I loved the idea of the 24h marinating. Yummy! However, I was incredibly disappointed with the outcome. I made a note at the bottom for suggestions to improve this, but basically the sauce turned out to be extremely strong, and the chicken extremely overcooked. One good thing about this recipe was that I learned that another advantage of being a vegetarian was that simulated meat is way less prone to overcooking. Sorry SB!

Ingredients*:

Chicken pieces (thighs or breasts)*
Onions, sliced (~1 onion per piece of chicken)
~1/2 cup balsamic vinegar**
~1/3 cup dijon mustard**
Seasoning, as you prefer (I added Herbes de Provence, Laurel leaf, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper)
1.5-2 tsp lemon juice concentrate
3/4 cup wine**

{*Note. Please read through blog before attempting this recipe! There were some problems, as you will see.... I would first start with chicken thighs, as they will withstand longer cooking times. **The marinate is good with the vinegar and mustard, although I ended up almost doubling the amounts just to be able to cover the chicken. More importantly, there needs to be another liquid besides the wine in the sauce, otherwise it is extremely acidic. On this note, the white wine was something I was forced to do, mid-cooking, as the sauce without it was more like a paste. Suggestions, please!}.

1. First, I sliced the onion (keeping the pieces quite large).

2. I then spread the chicken out in a pan for marinating.

Chick'n version for me and LX:

3. To make the marinate, I simply mixed the balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, and lemon juice together...

4. ... until creamy and smooth.

5. I then added the dried herbs to the chicken, which included Herbes de Provence, Laurel leaf, and crushed red peppers (add the spices you prefer).

6. I then topped each dish (one chicken, one Chick'n) with the onions...

7. ... and poured over the marinate, mixing it to make sure everything was coated. I then placed it in the fridge, covered, for 24 hours.

Chicken:

Chick'n:

8. The next day, I baked the chicken (saving most of the marinate in the dish) in the oven at 400Funtil it was cooked and set it aside. The recipe said to bake it for 35-45 minutes (!!) but I took it out after about 20-25 minutes.

9. I added the onions to the frying pan, which the recipe assured me would create it's own liquid (so not to add water). At first it was good:

10. However, as they softened, it was clear that this was not going to suffice as a sauce:

11. I decided to add some white wine to the mixture, which looked good. I added the chicken to "simmer", like the recipe said, for 25 minutes (I cut this down to 10-15 minutes). Big mistake!

12. And served over basmati rice...

13. ...with a side of baked asparagus.

Overall, this was another lesson for me to try out recipes before attempting them for the first time with guests. This recipe smelled delicious as it was cooking, and I loved the 24 hour marinating. However, the overall flavour was SOOOOO strong. The kind that burns the back of your throat. I was so disappointed because of all the work I put into it, and because it smelled soo good. I did add the white wine to increase the liquid in the sauce, but I think it was too strong and only added to the acidity of this dish. LX really liked it, but told me that she really likes tart things (and was probably being nice!), but SB didn't eat much of it and neither did I. In addition, the chicken was cooked WAY too long. It wasn't so much a problem for the Chick'n, but for the real meat, SB told me it was pretty bad. Oopsies.

Anyways, if anyone has any suggestions about how to improve this recipe (both the sauce and how to cook the chicken), please let me know! I think there is potential here, but I am too inexperienced to think of anything else besides the wine!