Do you know what annoys me? When people state that marinades are super simple and then you have to finely mince and cook garlic, grate ginger, or zest lemons. And then you have to remember to marinade the day before. Really? If I want a quick marinade, I want to use stuff I have on hand, eyeball it, squirt it in a bowl, mix and have the option to put it on last minute.
These two marinades are all that and more. They are two of my favourite marinades and use one of my favourite ingredients… maple syrup.
The first marinade is from Martha Stewart who also tells us to cook the chicken with carrots and potatoes. This moderately worked for me. The chicken was done (I cut into it and THEN remembered I was supposed to photograph it) but the carrots were still a little hard. Parboiling before hand would have helped but… annoying! So, I took the chicken off to sit (which I think is good practice anyways) and then stuck the carrots back in. And then shit hit the fan.
Alex refused to sleep (5:00 – 6:30 is SUCH an insane time) and Bastien was going crazy throwing stuff everywhere. I decided to just go upstairs and try and get Alex to sleep and ignore the banging and who knows what going off downstairs. And I forgot about the carrots. You can see they are moderately burnt in the photo directly above. I tried to choose the best ones for the top photo but when I finally got Alex to sleep and came downstairs the oil on the pan was a charred mess and I had to wedge the carrots off.
I think this post pretty much sums it up. Listen, we still ate the carrots and life moved on. But I just want to show that crap happens everywhere.
This first recipe is from Martha Stewart. I ripped/adapted it from her magazine but it’s also online here.
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 chicken breasts
- Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup.
- Eyeball the mustards and maple syrup into a small bowl. It doesn't have to be perfect. Mix.
- Place chicken breasts on baking sheet and brush with marinade.
- Cook for about 35 minutes or until chicken is done. No one likes salmonella.
The second marinade comes from my friends Vince and Dom. We were at their gorgeous apartment in Paris and were having a nice dinner in. They used this easy marinade on pork filet but again it could be used on chicken too. It’s equal parts of all three ingredients so scale up or down as needed.
Vince & Dom’s Easy Marinade
1 Part Maple Syrup
1 Part HP Sauce
1 Part Soya Sauce
Combine, spread, bake and enjoy.
ps Do you guys know any EASY marinades?? I’d love to add to my repertoire.
Also – if any of you guys can offer any words of advice for putting baby asleep while an older toddler runs wild in the house I’d love to hear!
You may also like:
-
- Best Frosting Ever
-
- Nigella’s Easy Orzo
-
- Wheatberry Tabouleh Salad
Michelle Little
Writer & Photographer
Thanks for these! Dinner time and prep is always a battle…..as for sleeping baby with loader toddler….do you have a sound machine? Not the sleep lamb thingy but an actually sound machine? It has worked wonders for us and blocking out some of Clementines noise.
Hi Amanda – I always just said to myself that Alex would have to get used to the noise… we live on a street where during nap time there is a school playing in the yard across from ours and our street is also on a fire route (!) He seems to be fine with all that background noise, but a couple times now Bastien’s yelling has woken him up in the evening. Plus, it gets tiring telling Bastien to talk quieter all the time so perhaps it’s time to invest. What do you recommend?
Great post Michelle – I love how honest you are about the chaos in our lives! You’re the real deal.
Oh yes – no fake crap here!