Saturday, August 13, 2005

The Frug does it again

The Frugal Gourmet leaves a mixed legacy of cuisine and scandal, alas, but at least the recipes are still good. Last night I tried "Chicken Pieces with Lime" from the original The Frugal Gourmet. You can find the recipe here, though there is no attribution to the recipe's source. It's another simple recipe in which you coat the chicken pieces with the olive oil, lemon juice, thyme and pepper, then bake.

I used four leftover pieces of chicken from a kosher chicken I bought a few months ago (the pieces were in the freezer), two breasts and two wings. For the thyme, I used lemon thyme from the garden, which I thought would add a nice touch to this lemon and lime infused dish. And yes, I didn't have fresh lemons or limes in the house, so I used those little bottles of juice instead, which is probably a mortal cooking sin.

If so, it didn't seem to matter, as the chicken turned out extremely well. It was moist and tender, with nice crispy skin. It was also quite flavorful. The Frugal Gourmet concocted this recipe to show that salt was not necessary to good cooking, but honestly, it was so good when it came out of the oven I almost didn't need the lime juice that replaces salt. The prep was easy; about the most time-consuming thing was pulling the thyme leaves off the sprig I had picked. Then I baked the chicken for a little more than an hour, until the chicken was cooked to the bone (it may have taken a little longer to bake because the breasts were probably not completely thawed when they went in the oven). No matter. This is a winner that will definitely remain in the repertoire.

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