Friday, November 20, 2009

Garlic-Rosemary Chicken with Lemon Zest


Tonight (my boyfriend/roommate) Nick and I decided to try to cook "fancier." So we made a recipe that we have only done once before. The recipe name is in the title and it is from Rachel Ray's collection of recipes online. It is fully accessible on the food network website, as well as other recipes by other chefs. After our first attempt at the recipe was only so-so I altered the recipe to better suit our tastes. The recipe is fairly simple and quick but I found that the ingredients were not what are usually stocked in our college apartment.

Here's the recipe(altered):

Rachel Ray's Garlic Roasted Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon
• 2 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into large chunks
• 8 cloves garlic, crushed
• A pinch fresh rosemary leaves stripped from stems
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 tablespoon grill seasoning blend
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Arrange chicken in a baking dish, 9 by 13-inch. Add garlic, rosemary, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon zest and grill seasoning or salt and pepper to the dish. Toss and coat the chicken with all ingredients, then place in oven. Roast 20 minutes. Add wine/broth and lemon juice to the dish and combine with pan juices. Return to oven and turn oven off. Let stand 5 minutes longer then remove chicken from the oven. Place baking dish on trivet and serve, spooning pan juices over the chicken pieces.
Pasted from

A few notes now that the recipe has been read:
1) Lemon zest- (we had to look this up) it means to grate the lemon so that the outer yellow rind can be used in the recipe
2) 8 cloves of garlic!?!?- I will admit, this seems like a lot of garlic, but this amount is actually decent for the amount of chicken being cooked. Also, I wanted to emphasize the garlic flavor more than the rosemary flavor as a personal preference.
3) A pinch of fresh rosemary leaves- the original recipe calls for 1 tbsp, which was TOO much- it made the chicken crunchy and rosemary leaves are expensive so just literally take a pinch of leaves with your fingers(I do not mean the literal cooking term "a pinch")
4) Being underage, Nick and I used chicken broth, which was fine.
5) We used 1 tbsp each of two different Mckormick grill seasonings: Garlic and Herb; Garlic and Onion.
6) Be prepared for a lemon flavor with the chicken. I did not like eating the chicken with the juices- it was too lemony.
If you have any questions, please leave comments. Sorry for the lack of pictures for now!

1 comment:

  1. om nom nom nom. did I ever give you that recipe book I promised? whoops....aaand you forgot donnie darko. AGAIN. I'll look for it and give it to you at a later date. When I see you again.

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