Who Doesn’t Like Chicken?

NOTE: Spelling and grammar errors are mine and mine alone. I tend to type and post. I need to get better at that if I’m going to keep this newsletter up. I promise to get better.

Ciao!

I don't know about you, but I find chicken to be the all-around favorite in our family when trying out new and revamping old recipes.

While pork chops are great to work with also to encompass new flavors, chicken still wins out for me and the family.

Before I get into this recipe, there's one more meat that I didn't mention: the elephant in the room, beef. Yup, beef is the elephant in most homes. It's that meat you want to try new things on, but it just doesn't work as well as with chicken or pork.

My Papa believed that steak was meant to be cooked with just a tad of butter with salt and pepper to taste. No rubs, no A-1 sauce (which hadn't been discovered yet). Just salt, pepper, and butter. Those were the best steaks ever, whether on the grill outside or on the stovetop in a cast iron pan.

But, let's get back to Sunday's meal.

Patti wanted baked chicken. Not just any baked chicken, lemon baked chicken. I've done it a few different ways in the past, and I wanted to try something new this time.

To start, I cut up some yellow/golden and red tomatoes. They were small, so I cut them in half.

In the baking dish you see above, which also works as my lasagna dish, I covered the bottom in EVOO, lemon pepper, freshly squeezed lemon juice (minus the seeds), and some garlic powder. I was going to go with fresh garlic, but powder won.

After that, I put the potatoes in, sliced side down. That's it. No moving them around, no rubbing them into the spices. Just laid them down to cover the entire bottom of the dish.

Patti had prepped the chicken by cutting it up. We used two chickens since we were feeding our daughter, her husband, and our two grandkids who were here for the day.

I took the cut-up chicken pieces, put them in a mixing bowl, and poured some EVOO over them. Then, with the magic of smell and sight, I started to add lemon pepper, garlic powder, and basil. Once it smelled right, I then took each piece of chicken and laid them to rest on the top of the potatoes. A bed of starch, if you will.

I threw it in the oven at 350. I probably could have raised it to 375-400, but 350 seemed to be the right temp for me.

I believe it was about 90 minutes when I took off the tin foil I had covered the dish with. Yup, forgot to tell you that.

After 90 minutes, I took it off and let it cook for another 20-30 minutes, until the chicken had browned a little.

Poof! Baked Chicken Lemon Pepper.

You could add bell pepper and onions depending on what you and your family prefer. It's up to you.

Along with the chicken dinner, I made a tomato, cucumber, and celery salad with EVOO and Balsamic vinegar. I added some basil, salt, pepper, and oregano to taste, and that was served along with the chicken.

So that's it. No measurements, as always. Use your senses to make one of the most flavorful and juicy meals you will have this summer.

P.S. Sorry I forgot to take a pic of the tomato salad, but I can tell you it was great. It's all gone.

Buon Appetito!

Mark & Patti