Apricot Dijon Chicken

Mmm, mustard.  Spicy, brown, grainy, or even neon yellow, I LOVE mustard.  During our holiday trip to France, I was delighted to see that mustard always had a place in the middle of every lunch and dinner table.  I had never really taken the time to sample all of the varieties of mustard to the extent that I did in France, and I was really excited to bring those flavors to my cooking in the US.

Random fact: I ate yellow mustard packets as a kid...all by themselves.  True story.  My mom used to joke and say "we don't feed her".  Thus began my love for all things mustard.

Anyway, our obscene use of mustard got me wondering how I can incorporate it into actual recipes instead of just using it in its natural state.  Mustard and jam are a classic combination for marinades, so I thought apricot was a good place to start this journey.  Plus, it can be grilled…which is always a winning method of cooking in our house.  Planning to make this one soon and I think it's really going to be a hit in our house!

Apricot Dijon Chicken (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

- 1 tsp canola oil

- 1 cup apricot preserves (or any flavor you like)

- 1 cup Dijon mustard (we use the spicy French kind)

- 2 cloves of garlic, minced

- Freshly cracked salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

- Tenderize chicken with a poultry/meat tenderizer

- Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper

- In a bowl, mix ½ of the apricot preserves, ½ of the Dijon mustard, all of the canola oil and all of the minced garlic- this will be the marinade for the chicken

- In a separate bowl, mix just the other half of the apricot preserves and the Dijon mustard- this will be for dipping once the chicken is cooked

- In a large resealable freezer bag, put chicken, and preserve/mustard mixture

- Massage the marinade into the chicken really well (why else did we tenderize it?)

- Refrigerate for a few hours

When you’re ready to serve:

- Heat outdoor grill (this also works well on a grill pan indoors if the weather is bad)

- Take chicken out of bag but do not discard marinade- you will use it for basting

- Place chicken on grill; turn once when chicken releases easily from grill (about 6 minutes on each side)

- Baste chicken liberally with remaining marinade from bag on both sides while grilling

- Serve with the plain apricot/Dijon mixture that was set aside earlier for dipping

Maybe serve with rosemary potatoes?  I’ll have to make up a recipe for those soon!  Have to figure out some way to use the rosemary that’s overflowing out of the pot in my kitchen!