photo credit: joanna8555
I made one of the baked chicken recipes that I have been meaning to try for a while and it was so outrageously delicious that I just had to share it with you. I messed up when I bought my chicken because I inadvertently bought boneless chicken breasts when the recipe called for Bone-In chicken. However, these breast halves were so HUGE that I followed the recipe as written, including baking time, and it turned out moist and zesty!
I thought I’d share one of my easy oven chicken recipes with you, along with a little bit about Bainbridge Island. When my husband and I lived in the Pacific Northwest, it was always a treat to take the ferry over to Bainbridge Island just west of Seattle in the Central Puget Sound Basin. Bainbridge is one of the larger islands in the Puget sound as it has a shoreline of over 53 miles. The island was settled in 1854 after Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Indians relinquished any claim to the island to British Captain George Vancouver who had anchored there years earlier to repair his ships.
This is one of those oven chicken recipes that I attempted when I was first getting serious about cooking. It is an exotic phyllo pastry pie that envelopes almonds, eggs and cooked chicken that is seasoned with cinnamon and saffron and it is dusted with confectioner’s sugar and more cinnamon. I was so intrigued and I just had to try it. I must have had almost every pot and pan I owned needing a washing by the time I was done making this. I had a very complicated recipe.
This is one of those oven chicken recipes that you just always have to go back to once in a while. The chicken is moist and tender on the inside and has a nice crunch on the outside.
Luisa Tetrazzini
If you have leftover chicken or turkey - or if you have a purchased rotisserie chicken, why not try one of my husband’s favorite oven chicken recipes – Chicken Tetrazzini? Do you know where this dish got its name? It is named after a famous Italian opera singer named Luisa Tetrazzini. No one is quite sure exactly where the dish was invented. Many people believe it was created in her honor in San Francisco, after she sang outside to a crowd of more than 200,000 people on an especially cold Christmas eve. Although she died about 70 years ago, she is still remembered for having one of the most incredible opera voices of all time.
There’s not much better comfort food than a whole chicken recipe - and this is one that is super easy and out of this world delicious! The key to this – and all other whole chicken recipes, in my opinion – is the blast of high heat that the chicken gets when it goes in the oven. This automatically starts crisping up the skin which in turn keeps all the juices inside the bird.
Feel free to make your own changes to this whole chicken recipe by using the spices and seasonings that you and your family like. If you are not a lemon lover, just skip that part.
When I think about boneless chicken recipes, I think back to my days in graduate school at Michigan State University. There was this tiny Mexican restaurant right near campus. There was always a line and the restaurant was under ground. So we would wait our turns standing on the sidewalk until we were called to descend the narrow stairs down into the restaurant. I never needed to look at the menu, because I always ordered the same thing – Enchiladas Suisas! Oh my, were they delicious. I have two versions of this recipe. This one is the simpler of the two and I will just call this one Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas. I will be posting my very favorite Enchiladas Suisas recipe in the near future.
photo credit: Meg Zimbeck
Being part Italian, when I am looking for a good baked chicken recipe, I always steer towards those from Italy. This recipe originated in Mary Ann Esposito’s book, “Ciao Italia, Slow and Easy”. I have tweaked it to suit our preferences, but her recipe gave me the basics. The thing I love best about this recipe is that it uses grated Asiago cheese over the top! Asiago cheese changes considerably in taste and texture as it ages. Young Asiagos are soft and mild. The well-aged Asiagos are called Piccante and are similar to aged Parmesan in that they have a nice sharp bite and are hard in texture – perfect for grating.
Don’t you just love oven chicken recipes? Did you know that the chicken we use today descended from the Red Junglefowl? That’s him in the picture. The domesticated chickens were first raised somewhere in the northern parts of India. In the United States, chicken consumption increased dramatically during the second world war because beef and pork were in short supply.
There must be a million oven chicken recipes, but for taste and simplicity, you just cannot beat this Pollo arrosto – Pan Roasted Chicken with Garlic, Rosemary and White Wine. Don’t think because this is so simple and has such few ingredients that it won’t be an impressive dish. It will delight your guests!
photo credit: ukespresso
I’m always keeping an eye out for baked chicken recipes. I don’t remember exactly where I found this one, but I just called it Fruity Licorice Chicken. I know this dish had its roots in Israel or Lebanon and don’t worry – it doesn’t really have licorice in it. Did you ever hear of the liqueur called Arak? It is made in special copper stills in Lebanon. If you can’t find it, you can substitute Ouzo – which is much more readily available.
