Lemon Paprika Chicken

Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by
Ricardo Cuisine
, however all opinions are my own.

I have a lot of cookbooks. My love affair with cookbooks started over a decade ago when I was just beginning to learn how to cook. I could spend hours at a book store just browsing through pages upon pages of delicious recipes and beautiful photos. Once I finished university and started working I began buying various cookbooks. I still have them, but I mostly keep them for sentimental reasons. In fact, I have not bought any cookbooks in quite some time. There are way too many amazing blogs and sites online where I can find anything with just a few clicks of my keyboard.

Although I was previously addicted to cookbooks, I was never much into cooking magazines. With one exception: Ricardo! I remember when I got my first issue for free at a Food and Wine show back in 2008 (or was it even 2007?). It took me a few months to warm up to the magazine and then I was hooked. I kept buying it and then finally decided to subscribe only to learn that the magazine would no longer be available in Ontario.

So, when last year I saw an ad that Ricardo Cuisine was back, I subscribed immediately! I love waiting for the colourful issues and then leafing through them imagining dinner parties I would throw and compliments I’d get.

Now, Ricardo brand has evolved and includes a website to accompany all the delicious magazine recipes. Last Friday I was looking for something easy to make. I had a big package of chicken thighs that I got at Costco and I was browsing
Ricardo Cuisine chicken recipes
when I saw
this little gem
. It was perfect! Exactly the kind of recipe that I like to make: fast, easy, delicious and with minimal ingredients.

Just as I expected, the result was delicious. The aroma of smoked paprika and lemon made my mouth water and I couldn’t wait for the dish to be ready. I served the chicken with rice and poured some delicious lemony juices over it.

One trick that I’d like to share is about fat and juices that come from roasting chicken. Sometimes I put wire racks inside roasting pans in order to make crispy chicken and let all the fat collect at the bottom. Sometimes I just put the chicken directly in the pan. But regardless of any of those methods, I do not pour the fat out. I put the pan in the fridge overnight and let everything harden. The next day I scrape the white fat and store it in a bowl covered with plastic wrap in the fridge. It’ll last quite some time. I then use it instead of oil or butter when I cook. It’s delicious for breakfast when frying eggs or making hash browns. It’s great with fried rice also.

Underneath the fat there will be jellyfied chicken juice. I scrape it into another bowl and also keep in the fridge. It will not last as long as the chicken fat, but it’ll last a week or so. It’s delicious flavour that I don’t like going to waste, so I add it to rice, quinoa or buckwheat.

Lemon Paprika Chicken

Olive oil – 2 tablespoons
Lemon juice – half a lemon
Lemon zest – half a lemon
Smoked, spicy paprika – 1 teaspoon
Garlic, finely minced – 1 clove
Dijon mustrard – 1/2 teaspoon
Salt – 1/2 teaspoon
Chicken thighs – 6 large
Lemon, cut into 8 pieces – 1 lemon

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients except chicken and lemon. Mix well. Note: I used mortar and pestle to blend it all together including garlic which I only smashed, but didn’t mince. Worked like a charm!
• Loosen skin on chicken thighs and spread lemon paprika oil under the chicken skin as well as on top of the skin. 
• Place chicken thighs on a pan, arrange lemon pieces all around chicken.
• Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
• Broil for about 3-5 minutes to crisp up the skin. Note: do not forget chicken under the broiler like I did as you can clearly see from the picture!