Some of the best meals I have made literally come from that weeknight Top Chef Quickfire Challenge ***PANIC*** that I have about 30 minutes to get dinner on the table and a small assortment of strange and limited ingredients. Usually things that need to be used that night, and a smattering of leftovers my husband refused to eat for lunch. I'll never forget my daughter breezing in at 6 pm from school, she was probably seven at the time, and announcing that she "felt like something with peanut sauce" for dinner. Well, I like a kitchen challenge, so I busted out some damn good peanut noodles tossed with (leftover) diced pork tenderloin and snow peas. Boom.
Although I didn't have any stray leftovers to use, tonight's dinner was a success, so I figured I'd document it.
I use my iPhone notes section to save all sorts of recipe ideas, menus, and general food-related info that I'm sure I wanted to remember, but subsequently have forgotten why. Today I saw an entry that said Cumin Honey Chicken and Tahini underneath. No recipe, no chef name, no cookbook or website. So tonight I just went for it.
Cumin Honey Garlic Chicken
I like the idea of this spice combo because it can go a few directions with sides -
Latin (I'd serve it with roasted potatoes topped with Poblano Crema)
Middle eastern (maybe with an awesome Fattoosh salad and some tahini-ish sauce)
Moroccan (definitely with curried couscous full of veggies and nuts and currants)
Tonight, I served it with some potatoes that had started to grow eyes (roasted, with a few handfuls of chopped Kale and some sliced red onion thrown in during the last ten minutes of cooking) and a Caprese salad. All things that needed to be used up tonight!
4 bone-in, skin on chicken breasts (or one per person, however many you are)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil (I cook with avocado oil but use what you like)
1-2 tablespoons honey (use 1 tablespoon if you don't like savory things super sweet)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 cloves of garlic, chopped or through a press
ample salt and black pepper
Preheat oven to 400º
Pat your chicken breasts dry and put them in a roomy baking dish sprayed with something to try and keep it from getting too messy - I use awesome spray coconut oil. (Thanks TJ's!)
Mix all the other ingredients together and pour over the chicken, making sure you coat all sides.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes, depending on the size of your breasts. If they start to brown too much (the skin gets burn-y) then slip a piece of foil over the top. I use an instant-read thermometer and take my breasts out when they hit 155-160º, then cover them with foil and let them rest for ten minutes.
I put my roasted potatoes in the oven about 15 minutes ahead of the chicken and they were done at the same time.
Too bad I am a crappy photographer or I would have included a photo. Maybe the next time I make it for a dinner party, I'll shoot it.
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