Brined Chicken Breasts with a Mandarin Glaze

This recipe definitely happened by accident. Well sometimes mistakes can turn into delightful surprises.

I took some chicken breasts out of the freezer after work to thaw and cook for dinner. When I go to start making my meal, I discover that they’re still frozen! I don’t really remember what I ended up actually eating for dinner that night, but I figured I’d make the most of my situation and have something wonderful for the next night. So… I put the semi-frozen chicken breasts in a pot of water along with salt, coriander seeds, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes, and stored it in the refrigerator until the next day.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Season with garlic salt, pepper, and parsley, and place in the oven. In a saucepan, combine 2 tbsp of mandarin orange preserves, 1 tbsp brown mustard, 2 tbsp brown sugar, and 2 tbsp ketchup. After 20 minutes of baking, baste every ~10 minutes until done (about 45-50 minutes of cooking time total).

I served it with brown rice and fried corn. For the corn, I sauteed the kernels in 2 tbsp of butter and seasoned it with salt, pepper, chili powder and paprika.