...if I show you a dinner that I already started eating?
I couldn't help it because here's what happened: it started out as one of those "what should I make when I don't really feel like cooking" nights so I had no intention of photographing it. But it turned out really good...and I got excited and had to share.
What you see is my version of what I imagined Lemon Chicken to be--with loads of garlic. I've heard about Lemon Chicken over the years but I'm not sure I've ever actually had it. It sounded delicious, easy, we had the ingredients, blah blah-- so I decided I'd just make up a version of it. It may or may not be anything like "lemon chicken" but we loved it. Really loved it.
We also had spinach that needed to be eaten, so I sauteed it up with garlic and red pepper flakes, I baked a couple of potatoes (officially there is nothing more satisfying than a baked potato with sour cream. Except Lemon-Garlic Chicken.) And an avocado was ripe so we sliced it up with salt and lemon juice (hello, lemon tie-in! You were very appreciated.)
When I say the Lemon-Garlic Chicken was easy, I am not lying to you. My only struggle was when to take it out since I'm not used to cooking meat, but the two things I figured out were:
- Chicken breasts don't take that long to cook. Maybe 20 minutes on 350, depending on their thickness.
- If you think it might be done, take it out and cut into it. You can always pop it back in for a few minutes and better to err on the juicy side than the dry one, right?
I get emails sometimes about people being nervous about precise amounts so my other tip is: don't worry about it. For real. Unless you're baking, it just won't make a giant difference. Use more of the flavors you like, less (or none) of the ones you don't. That's how whomever wrote the recipe anyway. Like I did this one!
OK--ready for a great, easy recipe? Here it is:
LEMON-GARLIC CHICKEN
(Makes 2 servings/chicken breasts)
2 chicken breasts
juice of 1 lemon
zest of 1 lemon**
3-ish garlic cloves, smashed or diced small
pinch of dried thyme
pinch of dried oregano
small pinch of cayenne (totally optional--we like it spicy)
2 TBS olive oil
paprika
salt & pepper
butter (also totally optional)
- Preheat that oven! Around 350 degrees.
- In a small bowl, mix the lemon juice, zest, garlic, thyme, oregano, cayenne and olive oil together and set aside for a sec.
- Pat the chicken dry, and season on both sides liberally with salt, pepper and paprika.
- Spray a 9x9 baking dish with cooking spray. Place the chicken breasts in the dish, pour the lemon-garlic sauce over the chicken, move it around and get the chicken covered top and bottom, place your optional pat of butter on each breast (or don't) and bake for 20 minutes or so.
See how easy? Also I was just thinking that were you making this for company, it would be nice to place a couple of thin lemon slices on each breast before baking just to pretty it up.
And as always--any questions at all--no matter how simple you may think they are--leave a comment or email me.
Happy cooking! I'm stretching hats and making bows. (What? More on that later..)
(**lemon zest: Stress not. In case you didn't know, lemon zest is the yellow part of the lemon peel. Loads of flavor. I use a lemon zester which is a very fine metal grater, but you could also use a regular sort of cheese grater, or a carrot peeler--and then slice the strips up as finely as you can. Try to stick with the yellow only, because the white part is pretty bitter.)
