Lemon Chicken Pasta

Lemon Chicken Pasta - made October 26, 2013, recipe adapted from The Mother Huddle

My lemon tree

My lemon tree is exploding with lemons.  In hindsight, I should've probably thinned out some of the blossoms earlier but it was just so thrilling to see real, actual lemons growing on a tree I've had for almost 3 years and had hitherto only produced 2 or 3 lemons than I just let them be. You can't have too many lemons, right?  Uh, we'll see.  Some of the branches are so loaded now that they're almost touching the ground.  And I can't pick most of them yet since they're still green.  I have been giving one particular lemon the hairy eyeball though as it's been pretty yellow for the past few weeks. It still seemed rather hard though so I left it alone - not hard to do since I only go out to the backyard when I guiltily remember I haven't watered the lemon tree or the orange tree.  A green thumb, I possess not.

Overloaded branch

But I did finally snip the first large yellow lemon off my tree this past weekend and put it to good use with this lemon chicken recipe I found on pinterest.  I used chicken breast tenderloins instead of chicken thighs since that's what I bought from Costco and also subbed out green onions for the onions in the original recipe since that's what I had.  I also had some parmigiano reggiano cheese so I grated a bit of that and threw that in as well.  I'm reminded why real cooks enjoy cooking.  There's something satisfying about using up a bunch of random ingredients from the fridge and making something edible out of it.

This recipe made enough sauce that I actually paired it with some whole wheat noodles and baked it off as a casserole to make lemon chicken pasta.  I liked how easy it was to make although if you want more lemon flavor, I'd increase the amount of lemon juice to at least 1/3 to 1/2 cup.  This wasn't super lemony so it might also be good to place sliced lemons on top of the chicken before baking.

8 boneless chicken thighs, skin removed or breast tenderloins
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
4 tbsp butter
1 cup chicken broth, I use a bullion cube and a cup of water
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese, optional
1/3 cup green onions (green tops), chopped plus more for garnish if desired
whole wheat noodles, boiled to al dente and drained

1. In a large Ziploc bag, combine, flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder and chicken a few pieces at a time. Shake to coat chicken with flour mixture
2. In a large somewhat deep frying pan, Brown chicken in butter until both sides are a nice brown color.
3. Add chicken broth, lemon, cream and onions or mushrooms if desired
4. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or so, until meat is tender.
5. Place noodles in baking dish and pour lemon chicken over.  Sprinkle with grated cheese, if desired, and bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes. Garnish with more green onions if desired.