family dinner

Feeding a crowd is easy with a whole cut up chicken. My cousin wanted to try a lemon chicken recipe she found. We didn't have all of the ingredients, so ended up with this new gem. Baked or grilled chicken is a summer staple, I think. It's easy to prepare and light/lean. For this recipe we used fresh lemon juice, garlic, pepper and olive oil.

BAKED LEMON & GARLIC CHICKEN
1 package cut up chicken
1 lemon juiced (a little over 1/4 c)
2 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp dried oregano
3 garlic cloves, sliced thick
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, diced
fresh cracked salt & pepper, to taste

Rinse and pat the chicken pieces dry and set aside. Prepare marinade by combining lemon juice, lemon zest, oregano, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. I added extra fresh cracked pepper to add a little spice. Place the chicken in a plastic bag or casserole dish to marinate. Pour the marinade over the chicken and massage all of the flavors into the chicken. Let marinate for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 375º (You can either bake or grill the chicken, both take about an hour)
To bake the chicken, place in a casserole dish, skin side up. Top with any leftover marinade and the diced onion.
Cook covered at 375º for about 45-50mins. Raise the temperature to 400º and cook uncovered for the last 10 minutes of cooking time (this will hopefully crisp the skin a little).

Place the chicken on a platter. Scoop out the onions with a slotted spoon (so you don't get all the fats at the bottom of the dish) and pour over the chicken. Drizzle the platter of chicken with some of the juices from the casserole dish.