LEMON THYME CHICKEN

Lemon chicken and lemon pepper chicken are lovely anytime, but I have fresh lemon thyme in my back garden and I decided last night to put some of it to good use. I also made a very simple glaze for it, much like a sweet & sour (mostly sour) lemon sauce.

This is an easily customizable recipe that anyone can modify to suit their own taste. I made my pumpkin risotto first and served them together - great combo!

This is another recipe using verjuice (unripened non-fermented grape juice) but if you don't happen to have any, you can use a diluted vinegar solution or, my own substitute, 1:1 ratio of lemon juice to water.

Here we go...

INGREDIENTS - LEMON THYME CHICKEN:

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

600 Gm (about a pound) Chicken Breast Meat (boneless & skinless)

1-2 Cloves Crushed or Chopped Garlic

1 Tbsp Lemon Thyme

Salt & Pepper to Taste

2-4 Tbsp Verjuce

1 Tbsp Corn Flour (Corn Starch)

2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

2 Tbsp Water

1 Tsp Sugar


DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F)

Rinse chicken & pat dry, then season with garlic, thyme, salt & pepper.

Oil the bootom of a baking dish (I used the one I roasted some pumpkin in), and arrange chicken pieces in a single layer.

Bake for about 18 minutes then deglaze with verjuice in the baking dish (cooking 1-2 additional minutes).

Remove chicken (once thoroughly cooked) and use the pan liquid to make a lemony glaze.

Heat the lemon juice and sugar with the liquid from the baking dish.

Mix the corn flour and cold water together to use as a thickening agent once the lemony liquid begins to boil.

Once you add the corn flour mixture to the hot liquid, quickly stir until the glaze thickens and remove from heat immediately.

Now serve the chicken with the glaze on top (a little goes a long way) and with a nice healthy serving of the pumpkin risotto. A lovely fresh green salad would be a lovely acompaniment and there you have a healthy and delicious meal!