When Life Hands You Lemons…
This post was supposed to be about barbecue ‘cause, ya know, this weekend is Memorial Day, and that usually means sparking up the coals, and grilling your favorite meat. I’m just not feeling it. While I am fairly certain that there will be something on the grill this weekend, (In fact, I know it. My sons’ friends are coming over. That means man food…well, almost man food.) I can’t get this recipe for Lemon Chicken over Buttered Pasta out of my head.

The reality is we have been grilling a lot lately, so the idea of grilling again seems, meh. Feeling in a bit of a rut, I went searching for something different to make for dinner last night. I landed on this chicken recipe. which looked great but I was hesitant. We eat a lot of chicken—which isn’t a bad thing, but we eat a lot of chicken. Feels a little like Groundhog Day. My other hesitation was the lemon.

I love lemons, as do my sons. The husband too, but a little goes along way. My daughter, well, it depends on which way the wind is blowing. Making Lemon Chicken was a bit of a risk, but I am always up for a challenge and it’s an Ina recipe. How can you go wrong with the Contessa?

I took a chance, made the chicken, and served it over buttered pasta (bribery for the kids). To my surprise it was a hit, and the kids took some for lunch today. Rock On.

This one is definitely going in the rotation. Feel free to mess with the amount of lemon. I dialed it back a bit for the aforementioned reasons. Also, I didn’t have skin-on breasts, so I just used boneless skinless. Turned out fine. Might try it with legs and thighs next time….

Lemon Chicken over Buttered Pasta
Adapted from Ina Garten on the Food Network
Serves 4

Ingredients
1/4 cup good quality olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic (9 cloves)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1 to 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (to taste)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless chicken breasts or thighs (with or without skin)
1 lemon

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400º F.

Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add the garlic, and cook for just 1 minute—don’t allow the garlic to brown. Turn the heat off, add the white wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt, and pour the mixture into a 9” x 12” baking dish.

Dry the chicken breasts dry with a paper towel, and place them right side up over the sauce. With a basting brush, coat the chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle them liberally with salt and pepper. Cut the lemon into 8 wedges and tuck it around the pieces of chicken.

Bake the chicken for 30 to 40 minutes until done. (If there is skin, it should be lightly browned.) If the chicken isn’t browned enough, put it under the broiler for 2 minutes. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Serve hot with the pan juices. It is delicious over buttered pasta.