No Ordinary Baked Chicken

I wanted to have a nice meal ready for Mimi and Papa, who arrived home on Sunday afternoon after a weekend vacation in the mountains.  I was in the mood for baked chicken - but not bland, boring baked chicken.  I wanted to prepare chicken that would be tender and really flavorful.  I went to the store and picked up just a few of my favorite ingredients and came home to prepare what ended up being the best baked chicken I think I've ever had!  Get out your pen and paper or get ready to push PRINT because this is one you'll want to have on hand (recipe below)!

I bought 6 big organic bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts.

I also picked up some fresh rosemary and lemons.

After chopping the fresh rosemary and slicing the lemons, I added some fresh garlic to the rosemary and then stuffed each chicken breast.  I used my fingers to pull up one side of the skin and then stuffed it with the rosemary, garlic and lemons.

After each chicken breast was stuffed, I put them in a lightly greased baking dish (I actually used 2 because the pieces were so big).  I then squeezed fresh lemon juice and poured a little white wine on top of the chicken breasts. 

To top it all off, I added a fresh rosemary sprig on top of each breast and sprinkled everything generously with olive oil, salt and pepper.  All of the above took about 20 minutes, and I covered it with aluminum foil and put it into the refrigerator for about 4-5 hours.  When it came time to bake, I took the dishes out of the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature while the oven heated to 350 degrees.  I baked it uncovered at 350 for 40 minutes and then turned it down to 300 degrees and baked an additional 15 minutes.  It looked GORGEOUS when it came out of the oven and our house smelled of citrus and rosemary.  Here is what it looked like:

The outside was crispy and golden, and the inside was tender and so deliciously flavorful.  I especially liked dipping my chicken into the juices on the bottom of the pyrex.  The rosemary on top of the chicken was toasted and added a nice crunch.  It was wonderful!!!

The best news is that my TOUGHEST critic LOVED it!

This is a dish that I will bake again and again - both for an ordinary night at home and for a company dinner.  It was super easy to prepare and I could do all of the preparing earlier in the day - just what you need when you're having people over for dinner.  Like I said, I used 6 big chicken breasts and had a lot of leftovers but I plan to use the leftovers on a salad and perhaps make chicken enchiladas later this week!

NO ORDINARY BAKED CHICKEN

6 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts

9-10 sprigs of fresh rosmary

2 lemons

1-3 cloves garlic

1 cup white wine

olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Chop 2-3 sprigs of rosemary and thinly slice the lemons.  Add chopped garlic to rosemary.  Stuff each chicken breast with 2 lemon slices and the rosemary and garlic mixture.  Place each stuffed chicken breast into a lightly greased pyrex .  Squeeze fresh lemon on top and pour white wine over all.  Sprinkle generously with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Place a sprig of fresh rosemary on top of each chicken breast. 

Let sit for several hours in the refrigerator.  When you turn on your oven to preheat it to 350, take chicken out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature until the oven is ready.  Place it in the oven for 40 minutes (uncovered) at 350 and then turn down to 300 for an additional 10-15 minutes.

Enjoy!