sunday dinner.

i am going to chicago on thursday to visit a friend. marshall isn’t coming. consequently, marshall is already crying, “but who will make me dinner?!”

because i feel bad for my husband (and because i love to cook), i plan to make a really good dinner every night up until i leave.. starting with tonight. “really good” doesn’t even do this dinner justice. it was fantastic.

ever since seeing hasselback potatoes on joy the baker’s blog, i knew i needed them in my life. i starred the recipe and shoved it into the back of my mind. it wasn’t until allison made them the other day that i remembered how much i wanted to try them out for myself.  (don’t worry allison, i used pre-minced garlic, too.)

i started with a few red potatoes and sliced them, careful not to sever them all the way through.

next, i lined a baking dish with foil and placed the potatoes on the dish.  then, i bathed the potatoes in olive oil.

i then sprinkled the potatoes with salt, pepper and minced garlic. i skipped the butter step, because i needed all the butter in the house for the cookies i made after dinner. that’s a story for another day.

into a 425 degree oven they went!

i basted the potatoes with more oil 25 minutes into the process and then let them bake for another 25 minutes.

voila—so pretty, no?

for the main dish of tonight’s dinner, i knew i wanted to use up my bag of lemons. marshall loves anything that involves chicken and lemons, and i aim to please. please reference a couple of my recipes for proof: one pot lemon chicken & rice and chicken piccata.

i wanted to make something new with my lemons, so, of course, i turned to google. i immediately found a few recipes that A) sounded delicious and B) i had all the ingredients for. i eventually settled on “lemon chicken III recipe”, which, if you ask me (and pretend you did) is a lame name for a recipe. i have made the executive decision to re-name my version of this recipe.

brown sugar coated lemon chicken.

adapted from allrecipes.com

• two 8 oz organic boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp coarse ground black pepper
• 1 tsp coarse ground sea salt
• 1-2 tb extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (3 lemons should do ya)
• 1/2 cup all natural chicken broth/stock
• scant 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1-2 tsp cornstarch or 1/4 tsp xanthan gum (dissolved in a bit of water)

i started things off by juicing my lemons.

next, i butterflied the chicken. i always butterfly my chicken breasts because it creates more surface area which=more flavor!

i combined the flour, paprika, pepper and salt in a small bowl.

i love the color of paprika!

i had a skillet with the olive oil heated to medium high heat. after dredging the chicken in the flour mixture, i placed each piece in the hot pan.

after it sizzled for about 3 minutes, i flipped the chicken pieces.

look at that color!

i let the chicken cook for another 3 minutes on this side and then transferred it to a baking dish. next, i deglazed the pan with the chicken broth and the lemon juice. i poured the mixture over the chicken.

finally, i sprinkled brown sugar on the chicken before putting it into a 350 degree oven to bake.

after 25 minutes, the chicken was done and i pulled it out.

i set the breasts aside and transferred the liquid into a saucepan and added the thickening agent (i used xanthan gum) and brought it to a boil, then immediately removed from heat.

i steamed some fresh broccoli and cauliflower for a side dish.

all together now!

as you can see, i drizzled the sauce over the chicken and the hasselback potato. marshall put sour cream on his potato. i am sure that would be delicious!

this dinner was time consuming, but it was simple and worth the time it took. definitely a winner.. especially the chicken. marshall went back for another piece—that is how you know it is a winner. the potatoes were fun and different, i liked them. the only thing i would change next time is i would boil them for a bit beforehand. mine was smaller than marshall’s and it was cooked perfectly, while his larger potato was not quite as soft on the inside as he would have preferred. noted.

well, one delicious dinner down, three to go! tomorrow is valentines day, which means marshall is actually doing the cooking. if you have been reading my blog for awhile, you already know what’s on the menu. the rest of you.. stay tuned!

Qs~

1. have you heard of hasselback potatoes? have you tried them?

2. what did you have for sunday dinner?

xo. janetha g.