Every time you cook, it’s a new adventure. They never quite turn out the same. But tonight’s lonely dinner turned out actually quite good.
On tonight’s menu: baked leftover chicken thigh and quarter along with steamed vegetables including cucumber, baby carrots, cilantro, basil leaves, dandelion leaves, red potatoes, tomatoes. Sauce is random balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, and finally a sprinkle of salt and crushed red pepper. No lime tonight. I usually put lime on my baked chicken out of boredom, but the balsamic vinegar was tasty enough.
Chicken Baking in the Oven
The oven wasn’t pre-heated, but the chicken was fully thawed. Bake at 375°F until chicken is evenly cooked. You have to guess this if you don’t have a thermometer. You can poke it with a fork or eyeball it. You can tell if the inside is cooked if the fork goes through the meat easily. Also, it should stop bleeding if it’s bleedy. Brown cooked blood is an indicator, but doesn’t necessarily mean the meat is cooked.
I cooked at it a lower temperature of 375°F (standard I think is 400°F to be safe) because I was to slow cook it to keep the skin. I like to have the chicken skin crispy. If you cook it at a highter temperature, the skin will shrink and maybe even burn. So keep it at a reasonable temperature to make sure it’s hot enough to cook the meat thoroughly. Once you think it’s evenly cooked, then turn up the heat to 400°F to finish the cooking.
If you care about presentation, you can also broil (use the top coils) to brown the skin a bit. Remember, it continues to cook even after you take it out of the oven, so timing is a little critical.
Baking time is about 45 minutes, give or take.
Plate of veggies
Baked chicken pretentiously plated
Baked Chicken is Thoroughly Cooked
There we go. Not bad for tonight. I’m not nausuous and don’t feel a peeker coming out my bunghole. Job well done. You’re a grown-up. You can feed yourself!
Tags: baked, chicken, cooked, dinner, howto, juicy, lonely, oven, plate, tutorial