Despite having a shelf full of cookbooks and an internet overflowing with recipes, I get into food ruts. Does that ever happen to you? Do you ever feel uninspired or overwhelmed when deciding what’s for dinner? Day in and day out, the responsibility to keep mealtime fresh and interesting…it’s enough to make me want to hang up my apron and have cereal for dinner.
It almost makes me envious of the folks who have a certain number of recipes in their arsenal that they constantly cycle through. How much easier would my meal planning be if every Wednesday was meatloaf? Or if spaghetti was on our plate once a week without fail?
I guess the grass is always greener elsewhere. Have only a few options to choose from and risk getting burnt out on them. Have seemingly limitless options vis a vis The Google and burn yourself out searching before you even get in the kitchen.
Where’s the middle ground? I don’t know. I’m still searching for it. If you happen to run across it, would you point me in the general direction? All I can offer you in exchange is Honey Dijon Chicken. But believe me, that’s a fair trade.
Honey Dijon Chicken
Adapted from Our Life In The Kitchen
BAH Note: If you want your sauce a little thicker, use my buerre maine trick. Combine 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon softened butter in a small bowl until you have a smooth paste. Use a whisk to stir the buerre maine into the hot sauce and cook until the sauce thickens a bit. I mix the honey and mustard together in a measuring cup so that any that I don’t add to the sauce can be put in jar and refrigerated for later use.
- 6 to 8 bone in chicken thighs, depending on the size of your pan
- 2 shallots
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 can chicken broth
- 1/2 cup dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/4 cup half and half (optional)
Melt the butter in a large frying pan or dutch oven over medium high heat. When the foaming subsides, place the chicken skin side up in the pan. Cook until the chicken gets well browned.
While the chicken is browning, slice the shallots and combine the honey and mustard in a measuring cup.
Once the underside of the chicken is browned, carefully turn the chicken over so it is skin side down in the pan. Add the shallots and cook until the skin begins to brown. Add the chicken broth and simmer approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover with foil. Skim the fat from the juices in the pan and cook over medium heat until the sauce is reduced by about half. Reduce the heat and whisk half of the the honey mustard mixture into the sauce. Taste the sauce, if you want a stronger flavor, add more of the honey mustard. Season to taste with kosher salt and stir in either half and half or a buerre maine mixture, if using.
Return the chicken to the pan and coat the chicken with sauce before serving.
Bon Appetit Hon 
We get into food ruts a lot, but it seems to be mostly because the rest of our life gets in the way. Luckily though, I’m someone who can eat pretty much the same thing forever.
Oh yes, life has kept me out of the kitchen recently too. In a perfect world I would have a nice chest freezer stocked with meals ready to go when life gets messy. I was lucky to have some fried chicken tenders and sloppy joes stashed away to fill in the gaps this week. But I think my reserves are down to a container of pulled pork, a slab of salmon, and some homemade rhubarb bbq sauce. What the hell can I do with that?
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Oh heck yes. And the food ruts lead to blogging ruts which I happen to be in right now.
I’d Luke some cauliflower on the side of this chicken, please. I learned by happy accident recently that such things go together.
I recently did some spring cleaning of my recipe folders hoping it would get me excited to get cooking. Not so much yet.
And hells yes, some roasted cauliflower would be a perfect side for this chicken. Or even, dare I say it, roasted Brussels sprouts!!
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we go thru ruts too… i grew up in a household where we had a new meal every night because peter doesn’t like leftovers. as a result, even tho i love leftovers, i try to have something new on the table every night. that’s hard, cus i have to take into consideration moods, desires and time…
we made a chicken dish like this this week, except instead of dijon mustard, we used honey + tomato paste & crock potted it.
Lord, if it weren’t for leftovers, I don’t know how we’d get by at my house. The thought of producing a brand new meal 7 days a week makes me want to weep.
Oh, I like the crock pot spin you used. That could make this an even more schedule friendly dish.
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I completely understand the whole cooking rut. I think mine stems for the fact that our grocery stores in HK and types or quality of food is also lacking. However, whatever your cooking rut may stem from I think you are out of it now as this picture has me drooling. Take Care, BAM
It is sounding as though the cooking rut is a universal phenomenon. Let me know if you need a care package from the States BAM.
Your picture of that chicken is hands down my favorite food photo from all the ones I’ve come across this week. My mouth is literally watering, and considering I haven’t had much of an appetite recently, that’s saying a LOT. =) And though sometimes I do think it would be easier to have a steady meal rotation, in reality I just want to make whatever has inspired me that week. I have a running list of dishes to draw from that I’ve seen online, and I usually pick whatever appeals to me when I’m making my meals-for-the-week list.
That’s how I meal plan too. Me, my folders, and books have a weekly meeting. Glad I could pique your interest in honey dijon chicken. Maybe you should get to know each other better ; )
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