Garlic Lime Chicken

Joel has often described his youth in the suburbs of Detroit, when his mother, a highly intelligent and educated woman, (and reluctant housewife), described the preparation of the evening meal thus: "It is four o'clock, and housewives all over America are looking at a chicken and wondering what to do with it."

Well. My limes are so plentiful and ripe, they are falling off the tree, and I happened to have a couple of packages of organic chicken thighs in the refrigerator..... So I decided to try this recipe, which I found three pages away from the fabulous Philippine Adobo recipe I wrote of earlier. Uh, wow. Once again, a deceptively simple recipe, (this time invented by a Gourmet reader), creates a wonderful and complex dish. Delicious, pleasing to all family members, and super fast prep time. You have to do a little advance planning to get the marinade going for the right length of time, but otherwise, easy peasy lemon (or limey) squeezy. Gotta love that short ingredient list! And while it's in the oven, why not squeeze up any leftover limes and make a few margaritas?


Garlic Lime Chicken

Recipe by Bella Jarret of New York City, inspired by a box of limes she received from Florida. From The Gourmet Cookbook.

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 olive oil
1 TB minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 pounds skin-on chicken parts: 4 breast halves or 6-8 chicken thighs

Whisk together all of the marinade ingredients in a container just large enough to hold them plus the chicken. Wash, pat dry, and cut off excess pieces of fat, but be sure to leave on the skin. Add the chicken, turning to coat. Marinate, turning once or twice, for at least 2 hours, up to 8 hours.

Put a rack into the upper third of the oven, then preheat to 400 F.

Remove chicken from marinade (discard marinade) and arrange skin side up, without crowding, in a shallow baking pan. Season all over with salt and pepper.

Roast until just cooked through, 25 - 35 minutes.

Turn oven to broil. Broil chicken about 2 inches from heat until the skin is crisp, about 2 minutes. Serve with lime wedges, and brown rice cooked with chicken broth. The pan juices make a lovely sauce for the rice.

Variation 1: yes, you can use lemons. They are good, but not as good as the limes.
Variation 2: Take 1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro, wash and dry, and, using only the leaves and tender stems, pile under the chicken before you roast it. (I'm sure it would also be good as a garnish.)

Note: Any leftovers are easily reheated; microwave to heat, then re-crisp the skin with the broiler setting of the toaster oven. None of it has lasted long enough to try these ideas yet, but I think would be worth a try: on top of a composed salad, as a filling in enchiladas or burritos, added to a soup.....