Cooking Together, Even When We're Apart

Nothing makes me happier than when a new recipe turns out well.

I’ve been making a basic lemon chicken for a while. That grew out of an attempt at a chicken francaise recipe where I realized the flour did not add any flavor and only added calories. I tend to obsess about a food for a few months and then grow bored with it and that happened for me with the lemon chicken. So after thumbing through my large Cooking Light binder cookbook, a Chanuka gift from Uncle Mark that has become my cooking bible, I stumbled across a Honey Lemon chicken recipe.

There’s a popular song by the hip-hop artist Soulja Boy Tell Em called “Kiss Me Through the Phone.” If he were writing about Beth and I, he’d call it “Cooking Through The Phone.” That’s because when Beth and I aren’t together we sometimes literally cook on the phone. This is so I can be encouraging, offer direction and try not to let Beth get too angry at herself if things don’t “look” correct. Uncle Mark will not eat anything he doesn’t recognize and my Aunt Leslie was an extremely picky eater so I do understand why.

Beth’s perfectionism when it comes to food starts at the market. One day I need to record Beth at the supermarket, picking out tomatoes and potatoes, and not allowing me to buy any piece of meat that has the slightest trace of fat on it. At times when I would food shop by myself I would buy meat and not let her in the kitchen so I could cut it away before she could see. I patiently explain every time that a little fat is ok, you can cut it away and it tends to add a bit of flavor but it hasn’t sunk in yet.

The Recipe

- 2 ½ Tablespoons Honey)
-½ teaspoon grated lemon rind (is this different from lemon zest? If so please tell me how)
-1.5 cups fresh lemon juice (about six lemons)
-¼ cup chopped fresh or 1 tablespoon dried thyme
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-16 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (3 pounds, but I used 1.5 pounds and halved everything)
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-¼ teaspoon pepper
-cooking spray

Place first five ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken, seal bag. Chill two hours, turning occasionally.

Modifying the Recipe

I cheated and just placed the five ingredients in a measuring cup. Then, I used a whisk to combine everything and poured it over the chicken thighs in a 9x13 Pyrex dish. I took the leftover lemons and placed those in the dish too. I baked the chicken at about 400 for 20 minutes, then turned them and baked for another 15 minutes. I never really cooked chicken thighs before but I think this came out great. It reminds me of the honey chicken my father used to order at the Shalimar diner, off the Pasta and Saute page (more on my family’s love of diners to come…)

What Happens in Florida...

Meanwhile, down in Florida, the chicken breasts needed to cook a little longer because from what I understand they were thicker.

How did Beth’s come out? She said it was “good” and so did my uncle. An “it’s good” is always high praise from Beth and Mark—but they only mention how good something is once. This differs greatly from my family, who tend to sing the praises of a good meal throughout it—“OMG Allison, this is delicious” my mother might say. “Oh it is so good tell me what you did again” (even though it may be the second or third time I have reviewed it with her…). Even though my mother, brother and sister-in law also tend to be picky, we still all love to EAT. My father, on the other hand, also likes to eat but tends…not to be as picky. Much more on them to come…