It’s Meyer lemon season! Yay! I LOVE Meyer lemons. What? Don’t know what they are? (That’s OK, I didn’t either).
According to Wikipedia (I know-its on the internet, so it MUST be true!): the Meyer lemon, is a hybrid citrus fruit native to China. It is a cross between a citron and a mandarin/pomelo hybrid distinct from the common or bitter oranges. Mature trees are around 6 to 10 ft tall with dark green shiny leaves. Flowers are white with a purple base and fragrant.
Basically, it’s a kinder, gentler lemon. As much as I love the tartness of regular lemons, these make a nice change. I got a big bag of them at Trader Joe’s and as I was driving home, I thought about what I would make with them. Since chicken always goes well with citrus, I took some out of the freezer, then scrounged around for what else was in my pantry.
Low and behhold! A giant bag of pistachios! I forgot about them! I need to use these. OK, we have some ingredients. Then I went on the Internet and found a fantastic recipe using lemon and pistachio (I obviously changed it…as well as a few other ingredients), that makes a gorgeous crust and sauce that you want to lick off the plate! Plus it’s super easy and pretty healthy, too. My thanks to The Healthy Foodie for the original recipe.
When chopping the pistachio, I used a hand blender with the bowl attachment. After the pistachios were almost the right size, I added the other ingredients and just flicked it a few times to mix. It was a faster way of doing it.
Make sure the chicken is on a heat high enough to crisp the outside quickly.
Next time I’ll have more and better photos. I decided to blog this last minute. It was so good, I couldn’t wait to share it!
Pistachio Crusted Chicken
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 4
Ingredients
- 4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs)
- 2 Meyer lemons, quartered
- 3 tbsps olive oil
- 1/2C shelled pistachios, finely chopped
- 3 tbsps toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp chili seasoning
- 1 tsp Himalayan salt
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper (or to taste)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- Grated zest of one Meyer lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Combine the ingredients for the crust in a shallow plate and mix well.
- One at a time, place the chicken breasts in the seasonings and cover them well with the mixture. Make sure to press well so it sticks!
- Heat the oil over medium high heat, in a large oven-safe saute pan (that has a cover).
- When the oil is hot, add the chicken breasts and sear for about 2 minutes on each side, just until a golden crust develops.
- Arrange the quartered lemon around the chicken.
- Put the lid on and bake in the over for 25 minutes.
- Uncover and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or until the lemons are slightly caramelized and the chicken looks crispy.
- Let the chicken rest for about 5 minutes, then slice and spoon the juices at the bottom over the meat.
- Serve.
