This is another recipe from my friend and trainer Anna O’Brien’s cookbook entitled: Greek Cooking. If you are interested in purchasing the cookbook, please visit Anna’s website for more information: http://www.greekcooking.info/purchase.html.

Pete and I had the pleasure of being invited over to Anna’s house for Christmas dinner with her and her beautiful family. Anna made Baked Lemon Chicken over Potatoes as the main course. It was absolutely delicious. When Anna made this dish, the chicken was so soft and tender, the sauce was like divine melted butter running down your throat, and the potatoes were chunky wedges that were tender on the outside and soft and fluffy when they broke apart in your mouth upon the first bite. There was a subtle yet explosive peppery taste that spreads through your mouth when you swallow the perfect bite. Please note that there is absolutely no butter in this dish at all!

Ingredient list:

Organic ingredients and place they were purchased:

1. Chicken breasts from Costco
2. Oregano from Whole Foods
3. Lemon juice from Whole Foods

Non-organic Ingredients

1. Potatoes from Town & Country
2. Garlic from Remus Farms
3. Olive Oil from Costco

Last week we made a pilgrimage to Whole Foods which was just awesome! We went to the one in Orland Park. Sadly, I had already done my shopping for the week and purchased my ingredients. Had I not done my shopping, I would’ve purchased the garlic and potatoes at Whole Foods (or Whole Paycheck, as some like to call it).

The recipe calls for a whole chicken which you can purchase at Costco as well. We substituted chicken breasts instead of whole chicken, which might explain why our dish came out a little dryer than we expected. It does make more sense that our dish came out dryer than the one we ate on Christmas day since whole chicken has fattier parts and more flavor. And let’s face it, chicken breast is great (to people who eat meat) but it’s not exactly the moistest part of the bird.

This was a very easy dish to prepare with simple ingredients and a lot of flavor. The oven really does most of the work. There is minimal prep and cleanup involved which is great for those with busy families. I got 6 meals out of this dish: 5 for leftovers and 1 meal for the chef.

Here’s this week’s note from Chef Pete: “If you don’t like dark meat [like Sara], then you can substitute all white meat chicken breasts. If you are using only chicken breasts, let the potatoes cook first for a bit and then add the chicken breasts a little later so the potatoes have a chance to cook and the chicken doesn’t dry out. If you are using a whole chicken, then follow recipe the way Anna suggests.”

When we made this dish the chicken did get a little dried out because we only used chicken breasts because Sara’s not quite a fan of all parts of the chicken. Yes I’m referring to myself in third person.

This coming week we are making a Greek lasagna called Pastitsio.

Happy Greek eating!

Opa!!!

Sara