Chicken baked with lime & thyme
This simple dish derived from a recipe in Rosamund Grant’s slim but superb Cooking of the Caribbean is a favorite in the household of the Editor. Grant does not identify a source for the recipe--it may be her own--but the bright flavorings are distinctly Caribbean. Four servings that may be doubled.
-8 chicken thighs
-a minced hot chili or ½ teaspoon, more or less, cayenne
-2-3 Tablespoons chopped cilantro stems
-3 smashed and minced garlic cloves
-½ cup chopped scallions
-1 heaped teaspoon dried thyme
½ cup lime juice
-salt and pepper
-4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
-½ cup chopped cilantro leaves
- Cut a trench along the bone of each thigh on the side opposite the skin.
- Mix together the chili, cilantro stems, garlic, scallions, thyme and lime juice with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
- Melt the butter and stir it into the marinade.
- Jam the marinate into the trench of each thigh and smear what ever is left onto the thighs.
- Marinate the chicken overnight in a plastic bag.
Preheat the oven to 375°.
- Put the chicken skin side down on a baking sheet or shallow ovenproof dish, cover it with foil and bake it for about 40 minutes.
- Remove the foil and blast the chicken under the broiler to brown it.
- Strew the chopped cilantro leaves over the chicken and serve with black beans and rice, spooning the juices overall.
Notes:
- The original recipe omits the chili and cilantro stems, and uses less lime and more butter. We found our own proportions worked a lot better.
- The dish is even better if it is summertime and you are enterprising enough to scorch the thighs skin side down on a charcoal grill rather than broiling them at Step 7.