Key Lime Chicken Adventures!

I stumbled upon this recipe in the past few days...and something made me stop to study the entire combination.  Chicken...Lime Juice...Garlic...what could or would go wrong with that?  

The original recipe as I read it....

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Key Lime Chicken

poultry

1 cup Nellie & Joe's Key West Lime Juice
1 teaspoon Splenda
1 teaspoon Splenda brown sugar
2/3 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon ginger; peeled, minced
3 pounds chicken pieces

 
Combine first nine ingredients in blender;  mix until well blended.

Pour marinade over chicken pieces. Allow to stand in marinade for eight hours in refrigerator.   Remove from refrigerator for two hours to come to room temperature. 

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Drain and reserve marinade.   Bring marinade to boil; reduce and simmer for 10 minutes.  Cool for basting.


Place chicken in baking dish. Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes, basting with marinade every 20 minutes.

Yield: 4 servings


** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.87 **

My cooking adventure started.....and with this "flavor", all I could think of was Cuban, Carib, South Beach.  The part that was throwing it all off, in my opinion was thyme.  I feel thyme was "too wimpy" for ginger and lime juice.   My replacement had to be cilantro.  My initial reaction was right...the pungent flavors welcomed the cilantro.  

After my all day in the marinade, I removed the chicken and patted dry.   The oven temp at 350F sounded a little low for me.   I moved the temp to 375F convection for a crispy skin on the chicken.   Also, I always roast chicken in a Lodge 10" cast iron skillet.   The secret to crispy skin in the oven is a preheated cast iron skillet to 500F.  Place the chicken in a HOT HOT pan and the cooking starts immediately.   Also, be sure your chicken is a room temp.....nothing can be accomplished by putting refrigerator cold food in the oven but a longer cooking time which will just dry out your finished dish.  

Crispy and Moist from the Oven

 

While the chicken was roasting, I took the remaining marinade and reduced the volume by two thirds.  To add extra richness, I added a half cup of heavy cream and let it simmer until it had thickened more.   Slow and low temps on the pot will evaporate the water in the cream and it naturally thickens without any additional thickener.    

Cream Thickened Lime/Cilantro Sauce

And the finished plate with a freshly tossed salad, brown rice and my home made mango chutney made for a wonderful plate of flavors.  

Bon Appetit!