I don't know about you, but for me, when I have a dish that has just enough lemon in it, it gives the entire dish a sense of freshness. Maybe its that fact that lemons are a great cleaning agent, and so my senses feel the "cleanliness" in the dish, or maybe it is something entirely different, but I love cooking with lemon; and in Arizona, that means cooking with it more often in our wintertime when the citrus are in season.
Last night, I grabbed some chicken legs out of the fridge and upon deciding to roast them, thought back to the many meals my Middle Eastern friends would make, many of the dishes would contain the juice of lemon. And maybe this dish isn't so "spicy" as it is aromatic.
On the BBQ, lemon juice infused meat reacts to create an incredible taste that is quite unique, but it works well in the oven also. I thought to give it a whirl and add a bit of lemon juice to the chicken and see what it created. Well, it could only go one of two ways... great or awful. No "grey area" here.
As most of my cooking is experimentation, the results of this experiment turned out brilliant, and my "taste-tester" hubby insisting that I should get the recipe up on here fast. So, without any further adieu, here is the recipe.
Happy Cooking, Happy Eating!
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| Our lemon tree. It is so heavy laden this year. |
Ingredients:
8 chicken legs
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
4 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp seven spices
2 tsp paprika
juice of 1/2 - 1 lemon
salt to taste
8 red-skinned potatoes
salt to taste
1/2 cup vegetable oil
8 cups baby carrots
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp water
salt to taste
Heat oven to 375*F
1. Rinse and pat dry chicken legs (remove any excess fat). Place in a baking dish, skin side up.
2. Sprinkle the spices and salt evenly over the legs.
3. "Drizzle" the lemon juice over the legs, making sure you don't "wash" the spices off the chicken legs. Set aside.
4. Wash potatoes and cut in half, toss in salt lightly.
5. Pour oil into a separate baking dish and then lay the potatoes, exposed flesh side down in to the oil.
Bake chicken and potatoes for 45 mins - 1 hr, or until chicken skin is well roasted (and crisp) and chicken and potatoes are cooked through. Remove from heat and let sit 5-8 minutes before plating.
6. Pour carrots into a microwave safe dish, season with a little salt. Dab the butter on top of the carrots, and add the water down the sides of the dish. Microwave on HIGH for 7-8 minutes until cooked through but not over-cooked. Once cooked, give a quick toss to coat all the carrots with butter, and serve immediately.
Serves 4-6
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