Hello Everyone,
I love to cook almost as much as I love to quilt. This chicken recipe is easy to prepare and your house is going to smell sooooo good while this is baking and you are quilting.
Savory Baked Chicken
10 garlic cloves1-1/2 tsp. salt divided
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 Tbsp. grated lime rind
1 (4-1/2 lb.) whole chicken
3 fresh cilantro sprigs
Vegetable cooking spray
1/2 tsp. coarsely ground pepper
- Process garlic and 1 tsp. salt in a food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides as needed. Remove and reserve 1 Tbsp. garlic mixture. Stir together remaining garlic mixture, yogurt, and lime rind.
- Remove giblets from chicken, and reserve for another use or toss them outside for the critters. Rinse chicken, and pat dry. Loosen and lift skin from chicken with fingers (do not detach skin); spread reserved 1 Tbsp. garlic mixture evenly underneath the skin. (Use disposable plastic gloves if you are squeamish.) Place cilantro sprigs underneath skin. Carefully replace skin, and secure with wooden toothpicks. Spread yogurt mixture over chicken and inside cavity.
-Cover and chill for 8 hours.
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wipe excess yogurt mixture from the outside of the chicken with a paper towel. Place chicken on a lightly greased wire rack in an aluminum foil-lined broiler or jelly-roll pan. Coat chicken with cooking spray, and sprinkle with pepper and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt.
-Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes; cover loosely, and bake 25 more minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 165 degrees. Let chicken stand 10 minutes before slicing. ENJOY!
Yogurt acts as a marinade to tenderize the chicken and make it moist, and this chicken is MOIST. Yogurt prevents browning, so be sure to wipe excess yogurt from the skin and coat with the cooking spray. Also, make sure that you bake it on a rack so the chicken doesn't lounge around in the drippings. The flavors go right to the meat and not just on the skin.
This is a great recipe to fix before you head out for a day of quilting. Pop it in the oven when you get home and amaze and delight your family. They will think you've been cooking all day!
Soon,
Lynn
Mmmmmmmmm!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSounds so delicious and I bet your house smelled so good when it was baking. Thank you for sharing the recipe. We will definitely give it a try. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteOh I smell it all the way up here, Lynn! Thanks so much for a great time saver!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
This does sound good. Properly prepared chicken is amazing. At my last visit to Barnes & Noble I found a wonderful Irish cookbook - and it was on sale! I thought it might have things not easily obtained here but I was amazed at her "normal" the recipes were and the chicken ones especially. If you like cookbooks as I do, here is the info about it and I was surprised to realize there is not much in it that I would not want to make.
ReplyDeleteIrish Cooking Bible ($9.98 when I bought it) by Publications International, Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-4508-6840-2