Russ Meyer Lemon Chicken

The Chef went out Friday night to his new favorite cinema house, The Silent Movie Theatre, for the sold out double feature of "Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!" and "Motor Psycho," which closed out their Russ Meyer film series. Some movies are only meant to be seen on the big screen, like "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!" (click on a title to see the movie trailer.)

While parking around the corner off Fairfax Avenue, the Chef noticed a lemon tree with its plump, ripened fruit dangling seductively within grasping distance, over the sidewalk. Go ahead and pick away, it is legal, according to the website "Fallen Fruit." It provides city map locations for all sorts of fruit trees that share our public spaces, throughout Los Angeles. See the website link on the right, under "Blogs for Foodies."

Chicken is the cheapest protein that costs way below 99 cents per pound.  You can slide lemon slices into leg quarters or whole chicken breast, too.

The Chef would like to share a simply delicious recipe based on the fruits of his labor:  Russ Meyer Lemon Roasted Chicken.

Ingredients

• 4 - 5 lemon lemon - slice one lemon to put under the chicken skin.  
• 1 whole chicken - okay to use leg quarters or whole chicken breast. 
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions
Juice 3-4 lemons and slice one lemon. Loosen skin of breast and thigh meat by inserting your finger under the skin. Be careful not to tear the skin too much. 

Brush lemon juice over and under the skin. Insert slices of lemon under the skin: four slices for the breast and two slices for each thigh (kind of tricky but work a slice around to the outer thigh and place one slice on the inner thigh.) Salt and pepper to taste. If you have time, let chicken marinate covered, for a few hours in the refrigerator.

Bake chicken at 350 degrees, basting with lemon juice a few times, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours; done when juices run clear by piercing the lower thigh meat with a fork. Cover the breast meat with a small piece of foil for the first hour to keep the breast from drying out. 

This recipe works well with packaged whole chicken breast or leg quarters, just cut cooking time in half (no foil).

"Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!" movie trailer:

This coming Tuesday, the Chef presents a new video, "My 99 Cent Dinner With Nuno," starring his neighbor Nuno Pinheira (co-star of "The 99 Cent Mojito" video.)