Monday, April 24, 2006

A Cooking Light classic (according to Cooking Light)



Lemon-Garlic Chicken Thighs
Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2003 Copyright 2002

¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
4 garlic cloves, chopped
8 chicken thighs, skinned (about 2 pounds) I used thighs and drumsticks
Cooking spray
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Lemon wedges (optional)
Parsley springs (optional)

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a dish; add chicken. Cover and marinate in refrigerator 1 hour, turning occasionally.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
3. Remove chicken from dish, reserve marinade. Arrange chicken in a shallow roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Pour reserved marinade over chicken; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 mintues; baste chicken with marinade. Bake an additional 20 minutes or until chicken is done. Serve with lemon wedges and garnish with parsley, if desired.

Yield: 4 servings Per serving: 258 cal, 11.6 g fat, 27.3 g protein, 9.9 g carbs, 98 mg chol, 268 mg sodium

I went in circles with this recipe. It looked great when I made it but as I often do, due to time constraints, I made this the night before we were having it for dinner. It looked sickly when I took it out to reheat it. Most things I cook ahead, actually reheat quite well but I thought, maybe this will be one of those rare occasions that cooking ahead fails me. But, in the end, I don't think so. It didn't give me the vapors or anything but it was certainly tasty enough for something that required so little effort. Reheating it somehow managed to take away the unappetizing color it developed in the refrigerator.

This was from the Cooking Light 1993 annual recipe compilation but the recipe actually dates back to 1998 - this was presented in 1993 as one of their 'classic' recipes. So that might tell you something - that they thought it so worthy they highlighted it again five years later.

The real highlight of this meal was the brown rice I freestyled. I cooked the rice the night before since brown rice has such a long cooking time. To finish the dish, I sautéed some mushrooms and some veggies (I picked up a huge veggie tray at Costco on Saturday) in a little canola oil and Promise margarine, added some water and chicken boullion, the brown rice and then finished it with one pat of real butter. My son loved this and I'm always thrilled when he likes something somewhat healthy.

Question of the Day: How much rice do you eat? What kind of rice dishes do you make?

2 comments:

Alanna Kellogg said...

Hi Paula -- Since you cook ahead, you might especially enjoy this baked brown rice. It's so good I got special permission from Cook's Illustrated to share it!

Randi said...

*looking up*. I make that rice all the time, it really is foolproof. I really love rice so I try lots of different variations. I recently bought these whole grain blends from near east and they are really good.