Maple Chicken with Pears, Wild Rice Pilaf and Acorn Squash

Maple is one of my favorite flavors. I like to nibble on maple sugar treats or chocolate covered maple creams. Drizzle my pancakes with a dark amber swath of the warm syrup and add it to my barbecue marinades.

My neighbors are from Vermont. Each year after they've gone home, they bring us back a jug of maple syrup produced by one of their friends. This is the wonderfully rich and flavorful grade B syrup that sings out a deep maple flavor in your mouth.

I decided to celebrate the flavor of maple syrup without any other spices with this recipe. I baked the maple glazed chicken with fresh Anjou pears. Then I served it with a wild rice pilaf and acorn squash. The recipe for the acorn squash and wild rice pilaf come from OU Kosher where it was contributed by Eileen Goltz.

This recipe is also being submitted to the New Year's Gluten Free Blogging Event. It is being hosted by Ellen of I Am Gluten Free.

Recipe

Maple Glazed Chicken

4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
1/4 cup grade B maple syrup
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 Bosc or Anjou pear, cored & sliced lengthwise
olive oil
salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 7 x 11 baking pan with with olive oil.

2. Place the chicken in the baking dish and sprinkle with salt. Arrange the sliced pears around the chicken.

3. In a small saucepan, pour in the maple syrup and the broth. Bring to a simmer. Then pour the liquid over the chicken and pears.

4. Place the baking dish in to the oven uncovered and bake until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 170 degrees, approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

What did my family think of the dish? The kids loved the chicken and squash, but they weren't too thrilled with the wild rice pilaf. They didn't really care for the texture of the wild rice. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the meal. My husband and I enjoyed the complex herb flavor of the pilaf and thought it went well with the squash and chicken.