Recipe: Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken

Recipes are a regular thing I would like to feature on my blog, and today's entry is one I have never made before. Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken is a recipe that I got from my most trusted recipe website http://www.allrecipes.com/ . I try a lot of recipes from that site and as long as I stick to the 4-5 star recipes, I really cannot go wrong!

Anyway...I am in love with savory citrus dishes recently (my SIL made me a special lemon-garlic-pasta dish for my recent birthday meal and it was yummy), so this recipe looked like something I would really enjoy, and that I was confident Dear Husband would dare to try it as well. In addition to that, when I was at my Pampered Chef party earlier in the week I was reminded of a kitchen tool that I have that I haven't tried yet. Pampered Chef makes a citrus press that is sort of similar to a garlic press. You'll see a demo of how it works later in this post.

So here is the recipe (found at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spicy-Garlic-Lime-Chicken/Detail.aspx?prop31=2 ). My notes on the recipe are in red.

INGREDIENTS
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper *I THOUGHT I had cayenne pepper from a previous shopping trip, but couldn't locate it anywhere in my spice drawer, so I reluctantly substituted chili powder. I must've imagine or dreamed about buying cayenne pepper, hahaha.
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (I used three large ones and the seasoning was exactly the right amount)

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons lime juice

Combine the salt, black pepper, chili powder*, 1/4 tsp. garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme, and dried parsley in a small bowl:

This is the point where I started preparing the side dishes. I chose Zatarain's yellow rice (let me tell you, Zatarain's is a life savor in the kitchen because it is one of the few instant side dishes you can buy that actually tastes like FOOD! I have liked everything I have tried by Zatarain's).

For a SUPER simple veggie side, I sliced up some summer squash and roasted it for about 1/2 hour in a 350 degree F oven:


After I assembled all the spices that the Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken recipe called for, I juiced 2 limes using my Pampered Chef Citrus Press. The citrus press is a cross between one of those old fashioned glass juicers and a new-fangled garlic press. It is a tiny little thing made out of all metal, and you kind wonder how it can possibly squeeze a piece of fruit. You just have to go for it and see what happens.

Cut the limes in half and place a half, flat side down (which seems counter-intuitive), and squeeze it just like a garlic press.

The citrus press is such an efficient use of force, that not only does it squeeze every bit of juice out of the lime, it is a VERY easy and fluid motion! You can get all the juice out of a lime in seconds, it is amazing! It inverts the lime rind and you just take it out and replace it with another. With the Pampered Chef Citrus Press you could squeeze enough fresh limes or lemons for lime-ade or lemon-ade in a matter of minutes. In fact, I can't wait to buy some more limes and make lime-ade!
Anyway...now back to the chicken! In a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. olive oil. Rub all the spices into the chicken breast, coating the top and bottoms, and place int eh hot oil:

Brown both sides on the chicken breasts (approximately 6 minutes on each side - I used my lidded skillet on low-med. heat for about 10 mins- removing the lid to flip over the chicken at the 5 minute mark).

When the chicken is browned on both sides (see above), sprinkle the 2 tsp. of garlic powder into the skillet, and add 3 tbsp. of fresh squeezed lime juice. Turn the heat up to high and cook chicken for 5 minutes more. Keep flipping it around in the pan to coat with the seasonings. Here is what it looks like when it is done (it came out looking so yummy):

Here it is plated up with the yellow rice, roasted summer squash, and limes for garnish.

What a delicious Sunday dinner this turned out to be! I finished cooking mid-afternoon just after The Little Princess went down for a nap. DH and I poured some Cokes and went outside and ate by the river. The recipe got two big thumbs up from DH...which means I will definitely be making it again. The fact that the recipe uses mostly dried seasonings makes it a very time/money saving meal, and it was sooo tasty, to boot. The only change I will make next time is to make sure that I have the cayenne pepper on hand (and not just hallucinate about it), because the spicy element was kinda lacking.

Thanks for sharing our meal!

-Diana, The Ivy Kitchen