By the time I was 6 years old, I had discovered that maple syrup made almost everything my mother cooked taste better. It wasn’t that my mom was a bad cook, it was just that when I tasted that lush golden syrup on pancakes and French toast, I wanted it on everything [...] over oatmeal and omelets, on cooked carrots and peas and even drizzled her over chicken and fish. As I look back, my creative use of maple syrup might well have been the beginning of my culinary career.
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I started by sauteing sliced carrots in a mixture of butter and syrup. As they cooked and the sauce reduced, the carrots took on a deep golden glow. When I tasted them, I was wowed by the complexity and depth of flavors the syrup produced.I duplicated the combination with cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Although the pairings sounded odd, as each vegetable cooked and caramelized, the flavors became deeper and more complex. Unlike honey and brown sugar, reducing maple syrup enhances its flavor but doesn’t necessarily make it sweeter.
–Marlene Sorosky Gray, San Francisco Chronicle
I got excited when I read this article and ran out to buy some maple syrup. Seek the Canadian brands, as Marlene warns us about Mrs. Butterworth or Aunt Jemima – their sweetness comes not from maples, but corn, and they use maple extract for flavor. “Maple Joe” is one brand of pure maple syrup we get here in Finland.
I tried frying some cooked Brussels sprouts and red pepper using a little maple syrup and liked the outcome, but here’s my own recipe, as served to our saturday dinner guests, along with some lamb steaks and red wine sauce:
Sweet Rosemary Potatoes (serves 4)
6 Potatoes (the floury type, I used the big, red-skinned Rosamunda)
2 tbsp Maple Syrup
1 tbsp Butter
4 Fresh Rosemary Sprigs
Salt (ground Sea or Mountain Salt)
Black Pepper (freshly ground)Wash the potatoes, leaving the skin. Cut into quarters (or smaller if the potatoes are big). Melt the butter in a pan. Fry the potatoes on medium-high heat until they brown slightly. Add the maple syrup and fry a while longer. Pour the potatoes and the mixture of butter and syrup into an oven pan, add the rosemary sprigs, salt and pepper. Bake, covered or wrapped in foil, in the oven under medium heat for an hour or until the potatoes are soft. (It’s not easy to overcook them.)
I’ll add pictures when I get the chance to take them. Saturday we were too busy keeping the lamb warm!
Yummy! I can tell, I’ve had the priviledge to taste this delicious dish
You know, people have that same problem with tomato sauce. They can’t eat anything without it and they miss out on soooo many awesome flavours!
That pictured dish sure does look yummy!
Heh, that’s right. At least maple syrup, like honey, is a purer product than tomato sauce, and so has many more good uses. Not that I’d put it in everything, either!
The dish came out alright! Still some left in the fridge