PicoBlog

I’d like to introduce you to you new favorite way to marinate chicken breasts.

Yes: BREASTS!! Not thighs! I can’t lie here, I definitely intended on making this recipe using chicken thighs. I love thighs! They’re always so tender and delicious and truly one of my favorite things to eat. But sometimes your store just doesn’t have thighs and you gotta go breast.

And thus, this recipe became the only way I will likely ever prepare chicken breasts again (ok, that’s a lie, but they come out SO GOOD!).

The key? A lot of lemon juice.

Chicken breasts, because they’re typically so lean, tend to dry out. Marinating in lemon juice helps to tenderize them considerably, and the results are truly spectacular. Just be sure to not marinate them for more than one hour. Any longer will begin to break down the proteins in the chicken, resulting in a mushy texture, and nobody wants that.

This recipe is a twist on my dad’s recipe for joojeh kababs. He marinates chicken pieces with onions, lemon juice, and saffron, then skewers them and grills them. Here, I use turmeric instead of saffron and added sumac.

Sumac adds sour and tang to dishes and we use it in this recipe, not only in the marinade, but in the salad as well. Heck, I even sprinkle some over the top at the end because THE MORE THE MERRIER. It pairs really nicely with this chicken, especially since we use so much lemon juice and the flavor profiles are so similar.

In this recipe (and video!) I baked the chicken at a high temperature, but if I had charcoal, you bet your ass I’d have grilled them.

The second thing I love about this recipe is COTTAGE CHEESE. I know, cottage cheese and chicken? YES, cottage cheese and chicken.

You could blend the cottage cheese to get it smooth before seasoning it with salt and pepper and spreading it on a plate or serving platter and topping it with a salad of smashed cucumber, orange, parsley, and red onion, or you can leave it in curds, as I do here. Cottage cheese is creamy and tangy, and thus also pairs perfectly with this lemony chicken.

Oh! also! I made a turmeric oil to drizzle over it all at the end. Completely unnecessary but also completely necessary. Super simple to make, and adds a nice finishing touch to this perfectly perfect dish.

Also, my oven broke while filming this recipe (another sign I should have grilled the chicken!), but all is fine now, so watch the video (going up at noon today!) to witness me sweating and swearing while trying to fix the oven.

Serves 4
Prep time: 25 minutes
Total time: 2 hours

INGREDIENTS

for the chicken:
2 pounds chicken breasts
½ cup|125 ml lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sumac
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
1 small yellow onion, minced

for the turmeric oil:
¼ cup|60 ml olive oil
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

for the salad:
2 navel oranges
1 English cucumber
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced parsley
½ teaspoon sumac
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 ½ cups|465 grams cottage cheese 

DIRECTIONS

1. Marinate the chicken: In a large bowl, mix together the lemon juice, oil, salt, sumac, pepper, turmeric, garlic, and onion. Add the chicken and mix to combine, then cover and marinate for at least 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 450°F.

2. Make the turmeric oil: In a small saucepan, heat the oil and turmeric over low heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from the stove and set aside to infuse for 20 minutes, then strain, discarding the solids.

3. Cook the chicken: place the chicken and its marinade on a quarter sheet tray or a baking dish. Pop it into the oven and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads 165°F. Transfer to a cutting board to rest for 10 minutes while you prepare the salad.

4. Make the salad: Zest the oranges into a large bowl, then cut the rind off of them, taking care to remove the white pith as well. Cut crosswise into ¼-inch thick circles, then quarter them. Add them to the bowl with the zest. Squeeze any juice from the rind into the bowl.

5. Using a meat tenderizer, smash the cucumber in half, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Add to the bowl with the oranges, along with the oil, parsley, sumac, and onion. Season with salt and pepper and set aside until ready to plate. 

6. To serve, thinly slice the chicken breasts against the grain. Season the cottage cheese with salt and pepper, then spread onto a half of a large platter. Top with the salad and then add the chicken next to it. Spoon any of the leftover cooking juices and onions onto the chicken, then drizzle everything with the turmeric oil.

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