Lemon Chicken (ATK)

• doses: 4

Ingredientes

4 bone-in, skin-on split chicken breasts (about 3 pounds), ribs removed (see below)

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

12 shallots, peeled and halved lengthwise if large

16 garlic cloves, peeled, 12 cloves left whole, 4 cloves minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1½ cups low-sodium chicken broth

3 tablespoons juice plus 4 thin slices from 2 lemons

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Instruções

1. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook chicken skin side down until well browned, about 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer chicken to large plate.

2. Reduce heat to medium and add shallots, whole garlic cloves, and ½ teaspoon salt to empty pan. Cook until vegetables begin to soften and turn spotty brown, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in broth, lemon juice, and honey. Return chicken (skin side up) and accumulated juices to skillet. Bring to boil, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until thickest part of chicken registers 160 degrees, 20 to 25 minutes.

3. Transfer chicken to serving platter and tent with foil. Add lemon slices to pan, increase heat to high, and boil until sauce is slightly thickened, about 7 minutes. Off heat, whisk in sour cream and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken. Serve.

Notas

Adding the sour cream to the sauce off heat will prevent the sauce from curdling. Shallots are used as a vegetable here, but if you prefer you can add one medium red onion, minced, with the whole garlic cloves instead.

Kitchen Know-How RIB REMOVAL

Most skin-on, bone in chicken breasts are sold with a portion of the ribs still attached, but the ribs don't contain much meat and are awkward to eat around. Here's how we remove them.

1. Place the chicken breasts skin side down on a cutting board and pull the rib cage taut, away from the meat. Cut in a straight line between the ribs and breast meat to remove the ribs.

2. Turn the chicken breasts skin side up and snip away stray bits of fat and sinew. Chicken fat is butter yellow, in contrast to the skin, which is pinkish-white.

Cooks country annual 2007, February/March