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Rustic Lemon Chicken Breast- Shut- Up and Pass the Pepper

 

I have been jazzed to cook up some good chicken lately and  saw several foodie shows featuring something with lemon and wanted to make something like it here at home   I have new citrus trees in my little yard and the lemons were begging to be introduced to my kitchen, so busy or not and went out and picked a few and made up a pan of yummy, peppery lemon jazzed chicken breast.  This dish is music to my Southern taste buds. Enjoy!

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup quality olive oil
  • Nine cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock
  • the zest of two lemons
  • the juice of two lemons
  • 1½ teaspoons dried thyme ( I will not scream if you add a dash of marjoram)
  • Celtic Sea Salt or Kosher Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Four bone-in chicken breasts, skin on
  • One lemon (I love Meyer lemons, maybe make it two

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 F. ( This is important, highlight this because the recipe is so easy you will be just sitting around waiting for the oven to catch-up.
  • Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add the garlic cloves and cook just enough to warm the garlic not crisp or brown it, that would completely change the flavor. Just a minute or two, depending on your pans heat.
  •         Remove pan from heat and add stock, freshly grated lemon zest, lemon juice, dried thyme and one teaspoon salt and a heaping teaspoon, of course, ground black pepper ( I freaking love black pepper).

         Pour into 9 x 12 baking dish. ( Told you this was fast!)

  • Pat, the chicken, breasts dry and place them skin side up over the sauce. Brush the chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle them liberally with some salt and pepper ( yes, I said pepper again). Cut the lemon into eight wedges and place one or two beside each piece of chicken. 

**I will be honest, a little extra will be nice, it gets super soft and yummy.

  • Bake for around 40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts until the chicken is done and the skin is lightly browned. Tent pan with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 7-10 minutes, depending on your patience.

** Add some of the pan juice to each serving, we had a simple pasta and the sauce mingled well with pasta with an added pat of butter.  Super juicy, zesty and mouth-watering, my husband was hungry the second he walked in the door, the aroma was so tantalizing, and he is no Foodie. 🙂

Want to jazz it up fancy?

Add chopped Greek olives or a hand full of capers to the mix, make it shut-up fantastic. 

Serve this chicken with a fresh spring salad of greens, micro- slivers of real organic carrots and sliced strawberries with a crazy good strawberry vinaigrette.

Hungry Yet?

Nothing like a home cooked meal and this one is wonderful enough for Valentine’s Day or a special family occasion.

Inspired by Ina Garten: but I honestly did not have enough ingredients to call it the same recipe, plus I hate chopping garlic. 🙂

Rustic Lemon Chicken Breast Recipe - Easy but so darn yummy! Shut up and Pass the Pepper!

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2 Comments

  1. Okay, I have to confess, since I’m not a cook, making something with lemons is kind of scary, but I make a LOT of chicken at our house, and I love the fact that this has pepper and garlic and olive oil in it, plus just hearing capers made me hungry!! For someone like me that’s not an accomplished cook, simple and good is fantastic, and this dish looks like it will fit the bill!

  2. Well I do love garlic…but I love lemon with my chicken more. My favorite is a piccata, but I don’t like to take the time to pound and I don’t bread my stuff…so this recipe looks like a great substitution for my favorite recipe. How great that you have lemons of your own to use! I tried to grow some earlier and my tree didn’t make it but it would have had to come indoors in the winter anyway.

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