Chicken. You can cook it so many ways. It is delicious and healthy, but it is easy to fall into a routine when cooking this on a very regular basis. I came across this recipe on the Kraft website and immediately book-marked it and sent the link to my sister.
Jamie and I eat a lot of chicken (as you already know) so another recipe for our weekly repertoire is always good, but what caught my attention with this preparation was lemon. Yum, I love lemon, so I knew I had to try this one out 🙂
Now, I take a completely different approach than many people when it comes to new recipes. I love trying them out on friends. One of two things will happen, it will be delicious and we all have a great dinner over this new flavour combination, or it doesn’t turn out, we order a pizza, and we have an entertaining story and shared experience from the cooking disaster.
The first time I made this, we invited over our newlywed friends, Jen & Tom. They were recently married, and we wanted to have them over to celebrate. What I love about this recipe is that a lot of prep work can be done earlier in the day. You then have more time to entertain when your friends arrive because all you have to do is a few simple steps and pop the dish in the oven. Fifty minutes later, you are having dinner!
The original recipe called for bone in chicken drumsticks and thighs, but I used bone-in skin-on chicken breasts. Chicken breasts are a healthier choice, and this way, no-one is fighting over the white meat 😉 The other trick I did with the chicken was to pan sear the chicken breasts with some olive oil and Italian spices. This created a nice crust on the chicken breast and created a lovely piece of meat to present at the dinner table.
Another substitution I made was the amount of lemon that was called for. The original recipe called for one lemon cut into wedges. I used at least two, but could have used three lemons. I have found that the more lemons used, the brighter the taste. The fresh taste of lemon paints a lovely picture of summer-time and fun times to come.
The final amendment I made to this was the addition on fresh thyme. The fresh herbs combined with the Italian seasoning used during the searing provided a fantastic taste and presentation.
I highly recommend this dish. We have made it a few times now (most recently when we had Laurel & Jeff over for dinner). It is so easy, so incredibly tasty and it looks amazing on your plate 🙂
Adapted from:
Kraft Canada
Lemon Chicken Oven-Bake
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 4 bone-in skin-on chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp extra virgin
- 1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 cups mini potatoes
- 2 lemons, cut into wedges
- Sprigs of thyme
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add Italian seasoning to pan. Sear chicken breasts on both sides and remove from heat.
- Mix olive oil, broth, minced garlic and honey.
- Place seared chicken and potatoes in 13×9 baking dish; drizzle with olive oil mixture. Add lemon wedges and sprigs of thyme.
- Bake 45 – 50 minutes, or until chicken is done and potatoes are tender. Serve fresh cut lemons and sprigs of thyme as garnish.
- Enjoy! It is Awesome 🙂
