When life gives you lemons … make lemon chicken

I was going to title this one “Lemony Chick’net”.

Well, the hunt for a good lemon recipe went beyond desserts, I also began looking for something I could lemon-ize for dinner as well. There are a ton of lemon chicken recipes out there, and most call for a pan-fry, which I was trying to avoid. While I had a recipe onhand that I printed from food.com, I chose instead to follow the husband’s basic chicken instructions instead. The instructions are, more or less, the following.

  1. Season chicken.
  2. Sear chicken over medium high heat using canola oil.
  3. Place chicken in baking dish. Add olive oil. Add whatever other accoutrements you would – or as they would say in the web world – “Personalize this dish!”  (in this case, fresh lemon juice and rosemary with a little oregano)
  4. Cover with foil and bake at 350 deg for 20 minutes

Voila.

It turned out very well, I’m pleased to say. It is hard to go wrong with chicken, but I had one bad incident with not cooking it for long enough and that turned me off from trying new poultry recipes. And now, years later, I still find myself a little skittish for some silly reason, to cook chicken, and grill my husband (pun intended) for instructions each time. I think I’ve got it down, now. Plus this time I took notes which are conveniently stored on my phone.

lemony chik'net via chattycha on flickr

Steamed broccoli and mushrooms sauteed in the seared chicken remnants, along with some brown rice finish the dish. The b.r. was a little mushy. Rice is another dinner staple that surprises me when done well, because there have been many times when I haven’t done it well (this, I believe, is because I grew up as all Chinese families do, using a rice cooker. I don’t know how to cook rice on the stove. It’s an enigma to me).

Chicken with a twist

The husband shook it up a bit tonight. He crushed garlic croutons from MM to create a breading for chicken breasts which he pounded. Pan-fried and combined with sauteed mushrooms. This was on top of a garlic-infused pasta flavored with lemon. A side salad to finish off the meal. I loved having the croutons as part of the chicken dish. A flavorful change of pace.

dinner via chattycha on flickr

salad via chattycha on flickr