Whole30, Day 23: winner winner chicken dinner

Breakfast: 

Banana

Coffee with coconut milk

Lunch:

Cold eggplant-tomato casserole

2 fried eggs

Salt and pepper pistachios

Snacks:

Water with lime juice and chia seeds

Dried mango

Cashews

Salt and pepper pistachios

Dinner:

Crispy lemon chicken thighs

Arugula

Spicy sexy broccoli

Fried potato slices

Just look at this amazing dinner (I managed to take a photo outside at the golden hour, as we ate dinner sitting on our front stoop, so it looks especially nice):

The chicken was probably the best chicken I’ve ever made! The skin was so crispy. I followed a recipe from Food52’s Genius Recipes cookbook, but I didn’t have any preserved lemons on hand, so I had to make a quick version:

Crispy Lemon Chicken Thighs

2 lemons, washed and quartered

2 Tbsp salt + more salt to season

1 cup water

4 chicken thighs

Pepper

1 Tbsp olive oil

Combine the salt and water in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and add the lemons. Turn the heat to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Remove the seeds and pulp and chop the lemon rind into small pieces.

Heat the olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and place them skin-side down in the skillet. Do not move them–let them cook like this for about 30 minutes, until the fat renders out and the skin becomes crunchy and golden. Turn them over and stir the lemon rind from one of the lemons into the rendered fat. Cook till the chicken is cooked through, about another 15 minutes. Serve with the lemon pieces and lemony chicken drippings spooned over the top.

(I also fried unpeeled 1/4 inch slices of waxy potatoes in the same rendered, lemony fat over medium heat until golden on both sides.)

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