Greek Chicken

Anyone else feeling a little freaked out by all of the food recalls lately?  It seems like every day a new food is being recalled.  Flour with salmonella, salmon with listeria, Romaine lettuce with e.coli and chicken with plastic contamination!  And that was all in one week!  It has me wondering what foods are actually SAFE to eat.  

All of the recalls have inspired me to take more of a proactive role in my food safety.  I wash ALL fruits and vegetables that I bring into my home now and  I'm using my  thermometer to ensure that meat, chicken and fish are cooked to proper temperatures, far more often than usual.  I also quit eating raw cookie dough.  Tragic - I know. 😂 It's hard to admit but the research shows that the uncooked flour in raw cookie dough is potentially more harmful than the raw eggs!!  That's possibly the most disappointing news of 2019.

I've always taken food safety seriously but I've definitely stepped up my food safety game this year because of all of  the food recalls.   I know I look like a crazy lady when I dawn my rubber gloves and frantically start wiping down my kitchen sinks, counters, cabinet and drawer handles and light switches with bleach, but it's all in the name of avoiding cross contamination.  It's probably overkill but it makes me feel better about the food that I prepare and serve to my family.  

I learned a lot about food safety when I did my personal chef training and one of the things that they really emphasized was marinade safety.  I wasn't aware that it isn't common knowledge that cooks shouldn't be marinating raw meat and then reusing that same marinade on cooked meat - UNLESS it's cooked in between to kill bacteria.  As a general rule - if you use a marinade - "toss it out or cook it out" before you eat it. 

This Greek Chicken recipe uses a delicious blend of oil, fresh herbs and spices and a hint of lemon in a marinade to infuse the chicken with scrumptious Greek flavor.  Once the chicken is removed, be sure and bring the marinade to a rolling boil and a minimum of 165 degrees.  Just trying to keep all of you safe from food born illnesses.  😅

Greek Chicken
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 pounds bone in, skin on chicken breasts
juice from 1 lemon

Combine oil, rosemary, thyme, garlic, lemon zest, salt, oregano, coriander, red pepper flakes and pepper.  

Cut 3 half inch deep slits in skin side of each chicken breast.  

​Add chicken to marinade, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes - 2 hours. ​

Place chicken, skin side up in skillet.  Add any remaining marinade.  Place skillet in oven at 425 and roast until internal temperature reaches 160.

Remove from oven and spoon juices over chicken.  Place chicken under broiler until lightly browned.  

Let chicken rest 10 minutes.

Stir lemon juice into pan and spoon sauce over chicken.  

If you follow my blog at all, you know that I'm a big fan of grilled chicken.  I made a double batch of this deliciously marinated chicken and turned the leftovers into some very tasty chicken noodle soup.  Grilled chicken leftovers are the best!

Ciao!

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