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.....

"Drink Me!" Artemesia Cocktail: Fit to be Thaied

The inspiration for this new cocktail came to me while I was cross-country skiing. I kept thinking about my ginger liqueur, and Thai coconut soup - coconut milk, ginger, lime juice...... And about the recent impulse purchase I'd made at the Farmer's Market from the nice young men of Coracao chocolate - coconut sugar! They explained to me how coconut sugar was nectar extracted from the coconut blossom, then cooked down and dried, that it's low on the glycemic index, and easily dissolved. It has a texture and flavor that's reminiscent of maple sugar; crumbly, brown, faintly redolent of coconut. They use it in their raw, organic chocolates and other treats. (Coconut blondie bar - off the hook!)

The first night I finally put it all together - oh, baby. This is GOOD. It's so good I've forgotten to take pictures of it all three times I've made it. The pictures will just have to wait......

Fit to be Thaied

Makes one large or two small cocktails

2 1/2 jiggers (3 3/4 ounces) Artemesia Organic Ginger Liqueur
1 jigger (1 1/2 ounces) fresh-squeezed organic lime juice
1 jigger (1 1/2 ounces) organic unsweetened coconut milk (I like Native Forest)
2 tsp coconut sugar

Additional coconut sugar for rimming your cocktail glass, on a small plate


Put all of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker, and stir to dissolve the sugar and combine well. Take a quick taste once it's well mixed; does it need a little more sugar? Repeat. Now add several ice cubes.

Run a cut lime slice around the rim of your martini glass, then roll the moistened outer edges in the coconut sugar until it sticks.

Now shake shake shake the cocktail shaker, counting to "20 Mississippi." Strain into your glass. Try not to chug it down. Yeah, this is chick drink; that's okay once in a while.


Note: Coconut sugar is available at natural food stores, and by mail order through a number of stores, including Amazon.