I happened to remember to buy boned skinless chicken thighs over the weekend, so that was a plus. At Trader Joe's they sell it organic for a great price, but if you have the ability to get to a Whole Foods, it's worth trying out the air chilled chicken they sell. More for your money (no water weight), fresher and generally better.
Everything else in this easy dish I already had. I'm charmed by charmoula! The author says this is good not only as a marinade but also as a dip. I'm trying that next.
I didn't follow the Sunset recipe exactly since it was for charmoula grilled chicken sandwiches and I wasn't about to prep and clean the grill.
Also! I quadrupled the garlic because I love garlic. It was great. And the kids ate it up. I also was pretty generous with the lemon juice and the cilantro because my spouse loves it, but I think you could replace it with Italian flat parsley if you're anti-cilantro.
I prepared the marinade and set the chicken in the fridge. While the oven was preheating, I zipped a few zucchini through a mandoline, tossed them in olive oil and kosher salt and spread them on a baking sheet. I put them in a 375F oven for 15 minutes for the first batch which was too much, then 10 minutes for the second batch.
The kids loved these. I thought they might because they like kale chips, but these aren't quite as crispy as those. Still, the slight sweetness of the zucchini paired with olive oil, salt and a bit of browning made them irresistible.
I did some work during the downtime and during the marinating. (I will always be grateful to Debbie Koenig of Parents Need to Eat Too for teaching me via her cookbook the life skill of juggling food prep and work/childcare/etc.)
Then I pulled the chicken from the fridge and baked the thighs in the oven at 425F for 25 minutes, at which point they looked slightly overdone but tasted perfect. (More on food safety here, here and here.)
Pulled out some leftover brown rice and sliced up some fruit on the side. The kids loved it. They actually ate everything on their plates. I can't remember the last time that happened so the relief/satisfaction of seeing my kids eat heartily felt like some kind of win.
Also! I quadrupled the garlic because I love garlic. It was great. And the kids ate it up. I also was pretty generous with the lemon juice and the cilantro because my spouse loves it, but I think you could replace it with Italian flat parsley if you're anti-cilantro.
I prepared the marinade and set the chicken in the fridge. While the oven was preheating, I zipped a few zucchini through a mandoline, tossed them in olive oil and kosher salt and spread them on a baking sheet. I put them in a 375F oven for 15 minutes for the first batch which was too much, then 10 minutes for the second batch.
The kids loved these. I thought they might because they like kale chips, but these aren't quite as crispy as those. Still, the slight sweetness of the zucchini paired with olive oil, salt and a bit of browning made them irresistible.
I did some work during the downtime and during the marinating. (I will always be grateful to Debbie Koenig of Parents Need to Eat Too for teaching me via her cookbook the life skill of juggling food prep and work/childcare/etc.)
Then I pulled the chicken from the fridge and baked the thighs in the oven at 425F for 25 minutes, at which point they looked slightly overdone but tasted perfect. (More on food safety here, here and here.)
Pulled out some leftover brown rice and sliced up some fruit on the side. The kids loved it. They actually ate everything on their plates. I can't remember the last time that happened so the relief/satisfaction of seeing my kids eat heartily felt like some kind of win.
Here's the recipe for charmoula from Sunset.com, stored on myrecipes.com:
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 4 boned, skinned chicken thighs (about 1 lb. total)
Preparation
Mix oil, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. salt, the spices, garlic, and cilantro together in a medium bowl. Set aside 1/4 cup of the marinade. Add chicken to bowl, turning to coat evenly. Let chicken marinate, chilled, at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.
