Lemon Garlic Chicken with Goat Cheese and Zucchini Noodles
LEMON GARLIC CHICKEN
Our oven has been out of commission all week, so cooking has been a bit of a challenge. We tried to grill as much as possible, but twice got soaked again in the thunderstorms that always pop up promptly at 6:30 pm (or whenever the grill has reached the right temperature). Also, it’s hot as blazes out there and the mosquitoes are thick and hungry! No fun!
Another alternative to the oven is cooking in a tagine on the stovetop. The tagine is similar to a mini-oven, with its curved lid that keeps the heat over the chicken and the moisture in. Ina Garten, aka as the Barefoot Contessa, has a fabulous recipe for Lemon Chicken Breast that is a classic medley of lemon, garlic, and herbs. I thought this recipe would adapt well to the tagine since the chicken only needs to simmer in the lemon, garlic, and herbs until it’s tender. My broiler was still working, so after the chicken was done, it was broiled for a few minutes until the skin was crispy and brown.
What could make this recipe even better? I combined it with one of my other favorite chicken recipes – Goat Cheese Chicken! The creamy goat cheese combined with intense lemon and garlic was out of this world! The sautéed zucchini noodles were also perfect with this mix of flavors. We’ll be having this again!
ZUCCHINI NOODLES
I have a new kitchen gadget and I’m not afraid to use it! It looks pretty dangerous too. Indeed, right there on the package it says “the blade is very sharp, peel away from your hands.” So noted!
It the Kuhn Rikon Julienne Peeler, which makes perfect tiny strips of vegetables with just a swipe of your hand. This photo is two zucchini that I transformed in less than 5 minutes to a big bowl of noodles. Well, I didn’t actually time the transformation, but it didn’t take long. It probably took longer than necessary because every few swipes I had to exclaim about how wonderful it was to James. After a while, he probably was just thinking about guitar strings or cello music and nodding…but he pretended to be excited and that’s what makes a good marriage.
Speaking of a good marriage, these zucchini noodles were great with Lemon Garlic Chicken with Goat Cheese! I skimmed off the excess fat from the cooked chicken and used it to quickly saute the zucchini. The fat from the chicken was already infused with garlic, lemon, and herbs, so no additional seasoning was necessary except a sprinkle of salt and pepper. The texture of the noodles was just like spaghetti – you could even twirl it on your fork.
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