Pesto-Baked Chicken

(adapted from Saveur magazine)

I'm super-excited right now because I just ordered a subscription to Saveur magazine. I've clearly missed the fact that magazine subscriptions don't make a ton of sense in a world where you can find nearly-identical content online, but hey, why not buck the trend? I picked one up for a flight home, found a coupon for a cheap subscription, and there you go. I mean, the feature was pesto. Pesto, people! Pages and pages of pesto...

Among those pages I found this recipe for pesto-rubbed chicken. The recipe is really intended for the grill (which I do think would kick it up a notch, as they say), and they offered a baked alternative for those of us without a backyard. It's a nice variation, and an easy variation to make - just whip up some pesto, spread it under the chicken's skin, bake, spread a little on top of the chicken, bake a little more, and serve. I omitted the pine nuts, since I am just not a fan.

(The magazine also had a one-page photo and story of the Oak Park Farmers' Market donuts, which is SO awesome, because my mom and I used to ride our bikes there every Saturday morning and eat donuts and fresh raspberries on the curb while listening to the live bluegrass band. Once we even volunteered and helped to sugar the donuts in the basement kitchen!)

Also, this recipe marks Joef's and my official transition to adulthood, as we accompanied this chicken with...wait for it...brown rice. That's right, folks, we've officially made the switch. I sort of love white rice (esp. with a little parmesan cheese), but you know, sometimes you have to move on. Whole grains and all that business. Yes, it's brown rice from here on out for Joef and Julia.

So:

2 cups packed basil

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup grated parmesan

1 clove garlic, quartered

4 chicken thighs

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 475.

Using your fingers, loosen skin from meat on chicken and spread half the pesto in between skin and meat. Transfer chicken to a baking sheet and season generously with salt and pepper.

 

Cook chicken in the oven, skin side up, for 25 minutes; rub with remaining pesto and cook until chicken is cooked/juices no longer run pink.

Serve with brown (!) rice and arugula salad.

Chicken Baked with Lemon

 

(adapted from Loukie Werle's Italian Country Cooking)

I love when I actually manage to make a complete, balanced meal - you know, with multiple food groups, side dishes, etc. Like this meal, lemony baked chicken served with aglio e olio and a side of broccoli rabe. It barely all fits in the photo!

The most fun part about this dish was making the "aromatic salt"...or, you know, seasoned salt. It's kind of a recipe unto itself, and it makes a lot of it - so you can keep it around for a few months, refrigerated, to use in other dishes. I'd call it a lemon-garlic salt, but you can taste a good bit of the rosemary in there. You should pay better attention to Werle's recipe than I did, though - in her introduction, she notes that you just need a teaspoon of salt to flavor six chicken thighs. I used four thighs. What can I say, I got excited about the aromatic salt.

4 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

1 lemon, thinly-sliced

1 lemon, squeezed

1.5 tbsp olive oil

1/3 cup white wine (the recipe called for water, but wine sounds better for deglazing the pan, right?)

AROMATIC SALT (halve this if you want - it makes a lot, and certainly more than you need for the chicken):

3 cloves garlic, peeled and 2 chopped

1 cup coarse salt

Zest of two lemons

1.5 tsp chopped fresh or dried rosemary leaves

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf, if you have it (I didn't)

For the salt, place all of the ingredients except the 1 non-chopped, reserved garlic clove and the bay leaf into a food processor and chop until the salt is ground. Store the mixture in an airtight container, with the reserved garlic and bay leaf buried in the salt. Refrigerate if storing.

Place the chicken on a plate, season with the aromatic salt, and cover with plastic wrap to marinate in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425. Place sliced lemon in an ovenproof dish. Heat a pan over medium-high, add the oil, and add the chicken with the skin side down. Brown well on both sides, about 6 minutes. Place the chicken on top of the lemon slices in the ovenproof dish, skin side up.

Add the lemon juice and wine to the pan in which the chicken was browned and boil, scraping up any brown bits, for about four minutes, or until it gets slightly saucy. Pour over the chicken. Put the chicken in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked. (I forgot the next step, myself:) Remove from oven and place on a heated platter, cover loosely with foil, and let stand 5 minutes before serving.