When bears cook: Baked chicken thighs with Meyer lemons and rainbow carrots

 

Darlings!  Well, Spring pollen is in the air and wouldn'tcha know it, La Diva is illin'.  Boo!  The season of sinus infections has begun!  Hiss!  While I was down on the couch the other night struggling to breathe, I asked my Big Bear Man, DJ Nevah L8, if he'd make dinner and...wait for it....write a blog post about it too?  Amazingly, he agreed.

But when it came time to actually write, the big guy got all shy and protested that his paws were "too big for the keys, it will take me forever to write" and besides "I am a boring writer.  I tend to write like a strung out literary professor on crack; too flowery, wordy and quasi-academic." 

Well, I guess he's right.  The boy does tend to ramble, and succinct is NOT a word the lad knows the meaning of.  So, three days into antibiotics, I guess I'll have to do my Diva job and write my own dang post.

 From Snail's Tales blog, this photo of the Meyer lemon with kitty in the background made me giggle!

As you all know, it's CITRUS SEASON and lemony brightness is always so welcome to many living in the colder climes this time of year.   Even though La Diva lives in the Sunshine State, I too, look forward to the season each winter.  After begging and pleading and DEMANDING to the produce manager to get some coveted Meyer lemons on their shelves, I bought several bags of my fave fruit.  And because La Diva is dieting, I decided that I'd have to pass on the usual Meyer lemon meringue pie and try my hand at a savory application instead.  Like most people, when I'm ill and medicated, my brain does not work too efficiently, so lemon chicken was the easiest method I could think of for the DJ to prepare!

DJ Nevah L8's Baked Chicken Thighs with Meyer Lemon (and divine rainbow carrots!)

Heat a medium skillet with olive oil and when very hot, put chicken thighs in skin side down.  Why?  We are going to brown the chicken so it crisps up the skin, looks deelish and appetizing and not gray and rubbery!

 

After a nice sear and the skin is brown, remove the thighs and put aside onto a plate and remove pan from heat.  Then add rainbow carrots halved and quartered.  Spread out so there is one even layer and season lightly with salt.

Here is what to add to the chicken:  dried thyme and marjoram, a few finely sliced garlic cloves and one thinly sliced Meyer lemon.  We forgot to take the seeds out but do so now, so you don't have to pick them out later.

Put the thighs back into the pan, skin side up and season with salt, pepper, garlic and the herbs.  Carefully place lemon slices over all of the chicken pieces.

Pop into a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through completely.  (EEEEK!  Time to clean the oven again!)

Mmmmmmm....doesn't that look DIVINE? 

RESULT:  Well done, DJ!!!  Nestled under the chicken, the carrots were cooked to perfection and were a tender, sweet side.  The DJ was tempted to add wine to the chicken but I advised against it as we wanted the carrots to caramelize and release their sugars NOT steam or boil in the wine.  The chicken was succulent, juicy and tender with a light lemony taste which was not enough for either of us.  We greedily cut into the lemon slices and for each bite of chicken paired it with a piece of the zesty lemon.  Dee-licious, dee-lighful, dee-groovy!

And the best part?  ONE PAN TO WASH.  The DJ steamed the green beans in a microwave steamer bag and was left with only the frying pan.  Now that's a happy DJ!

So, darlings, have YOU ever tried a Meyer lemon?  What did you do with it?  Tell Diva all about it!  And if you want to 'ave a go at preparing the unique and tasty Meyer lemon, but are not sure where to start, check out the L.A. Times article for "100 things to do with a Meyer lemon" by clicking HERE.

Ciao for now, darlings!