Recipe: Broiled Chicken with Lemon and Balsamic Vinegar

This recipe is from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman, a cookbook I currently have out of the library. I'd read and enjoyed his column in the New York Times before and tried one of his recipes (Pasta Puttanesca), so I had high expectations for the book, and it has definitely delivered. Last week I made his Roast Fish with Crisp Potatoes, Olives and Bay Leaves, which was a bit heavy on the oil for my taste, but absolutely delicious. This recipe is actually titled Broiled Cornish Hens with Lemon and Balsamic Vinegar, but he says you can use chicken instead of Cornish Hens, which I did. I made couscous with toasted pine nuts (from a box) and a tasty salad to go along with it.

This dinner was voted "Best Meal in Flagstaff," by Mr. Cool.

Broiled Chicken with Lemon and Balsamic Vinegar
Ingredients:
chicken - I used 6 thighs, with skin and bones
salt and pepper
2 lemons, very thinly sliced
balsamic vinegar
minced garlic (he says optional, I say not)
chopped parsley for garnish (which I did not use)

Set your oven to broil and put the rack close to the heat source.

Lay the chicken pieces in a pan, skin side down, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cover each one with lemon slices. Broil for 15 minutes, or until lemons appear browned and the chicken looks cooked on that side.

Remove from oven, flip chicken pieces over, and sprinkle with salt and pepper on the other side. Broil for another 10 minutes, then remove from oven.

Smear some minced garlic on top of each piece of chicken and cover with lemon slices. Broil for 5 minutes more. Check that chicken is cooked and lemons are browned, if not, broil for a bit longer.

Remove from oven, drizzle with balsamic vinegar, and serve with couscous (or another grain).

Sweet and Tangy Salad
Ingredients:
Salad greens of your choice, I prefer mixed baby greens or mesclun mix
Sorrel
Watercress
Chopped tomato
Pomegranate seeds
Olive oil
Vinegar - something light, I use rice vinegar

Combine the ingredients in a bowl and drizzle with the olive oil and vinegar.

The sorrel and watercress in my salad were foraged on a hike this weekend, but you can sometimes find them at the grocery store or natural food store. Asian markets are also a good place to find watercress. The tomato and pomegranate are from the local farmer's market. I might skip the tomato if I couldn't find a good one.

Bon appetit!