Candy Cap Mushrooms, Marx Foods and an inspiration!

I was invited by Marx Foods to participate in their Candy Cap recipe contest.   "What's a Candy Cap" you ask... it's a little gem of a mushroom that smells just like maple syrup.   Seriously, as soon as I unpacked the little sealed baggie, my entire kitchen smelled like breakfast!   My task was to come up with an original recipe using those tasty morsels.   Throughout the day, all I could think of was breakfast... but I wanted to make dinner.   Fried Chicken and Waffles came to mind, but I wanted something original.   I ended up marinating some chicken in maple syrup and created a Candy Cap Risotto that was OH SO GOOD!   Now I'm sharing my recipe with you!   If you haven't tried Candy Cap mushrooms, put it as a must on your list!

Maple marinated Chicken with Candy Cap Risotto

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts, rinsed and patted dry
• 1/2 C maple syrup
• 3 strips bacon, chopped
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• 2 C hot water
• Candy Cap mushrooms, reconstituted and rough chopped
• 2 C vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 1/2 C arborio rice
• 2 T butter
• 1 t brown sugar
  
• salt and pepper

Directions:   Trim all fat from chicken breasts, rinse and pat dry then marinate them in a zip lock bag with maple syrup for an hour.
 

 Heat 2 C water until at a boil and add the Candy Cap mushrooms to reconstitute.   Let sit for 5 minutes, remove from water, rough chop and set aside. 

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, add mushroom water and 2 C chicken or vegetable stock.   Meanwhile, cook bacon until done and drain on a paper towel.   Use bacon drippings to saute minced shallot then add the arborio rice and saute a few more minutes. 

Add a ladle of hot stock mixture to the rice, stirring well, until the liquid is absorbed.   It's important to keep stirring the rice as the stock is absorbed then add another ladle when the rice is almost dry.   Keep this up, a ladle at a time, for about 20-30 minutes or until the rice is tender but firm.   When the stock is almost gone, add the chopped Candy Cap mushrooms, butter, brown sugar and salt and pepper to taste.

As the rice is cooking and using an outdoor grill, cook your chicken until done.   Crumble cooked bacon.

To assemble your delicious dinner, start with a nice helping of Candy Cap Risotto, then a whole and sliced maple syrup marinated chicken breast and top with a bit of bacon.   You'll think breakfast for dinner!