I’ve been cooking for a long time. As child, growing up in St. Louis, some of my best and strongest memories involve baking with my mother and with my older cousin Kathy. These were special treats which alternated with experimenting on my own with my Easy Bake Oven.
I guess it must have been while I was in junior high, in Greenwich, that I began cooking for the entire family. Finally, in High School, when I started driving and could control the weekly trip to the supermarket, I completely took over. My mom seems to recall me spending hours in the library, looking up exotic recipes. I do remember preparing 8 course Chinese feasts, and being particularly attached to my Time Life World Cooking series. While my mom was working, I would head to A&P, stock up, then spend hours preparing dinner. (Not quite sure when and how I fit in homework).
Even though I was fixated on exploring distant cuisines, my signature dish was Chicken Lizzie. And in fact, I think Chicken Lizzie was the first recipe I ever developed myself, from scratch. My mother and sisters still talk about it, and it remains one of the favorite family dishes. At least in our minds.
Because I realized yesterday that I hadn’t made Chicken Lizzie in at least 20 years. And as far as I know, although we all talk about Chicken Lizzie a lot, I don’t think any of us has made it in recent memory.
Last night it was just me and Emma for dinner, and I had picked up some chicken thighs at the farmers market. And it was then that I had an irresistable urge for Chicken Lizzie. Tangy, salty, buttery, slightly spicy. And with all the drippings generously drizzled over a side of rice.
The problem was, at first , I couldn’t quite remember exactly how I did it. But once I started pulling ingredients out, it all came back to me. Kind of like riding a bike. I did change some things though. I definitely recall the liberal use of garlic salt, so switched in the real stuff, crushed. I also seem to recall dried parsley (don’t ask me why). I decided to just leave out anything green altogether.
So, for my sisters, and my mother here it is. Chicken Lizzie.
Chicken Lizzie
serves 4
Preheat oven to 400F/200C
8 Chicken thighs, bone in, skin on.
3 Tablespoons of butter
3 Tablespoons olive oil
juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of freshly ground pepper
2 heaping Tablespoons of good quality sweet paprika
2 tsp of Worcester sauce
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
1/2 tsp cayenne
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Place olive oil and butter in a small pan. Heat gently, only until the butter melts.
Turn off heat, Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.
Place chicken on roasting pan, skin side up, and generously brush with mixture.
Place in oven and baste with mixture every 10 minutes, until chicken is done. The skin should be nice and brown, crispy at the edges. About 40 minutes.
Serve with rice, and drizzle some of the pan juices on top.
After everyone has finished dinner, while you are doing the dishes, pick up the nice crispy bits from the bottom of the pan and eat them yourself. They are the best part.
Mmmm, will have to try it. And, yes, I agree with you about the crispy bits in the pan! 🙂
I will dig out your original recipe and compare. Maybe will do it tonight!!
Looks delicious, do you think it would work with white meat, or would it be too dry? I am not a dark meat kind of gal. Martha
Martha: I used to make it with a whole chicken cut up, so sure, breasts would be fine. Just leave in the bones and skin.
WOW!!! best chicken Lizzie ever. Made it tonite. It was fantastic. My friend Ann made it with breasts and said it was great
mmhhh im making this!
Made the chicken last nite…but here are my recommendations. I used two whole chickens cut into pieces…therefore I doubled the marinade. In it I used only one whole jumbo lemon and only one half tea of cayenne..didnt want it too spicy. Tasted the marinade tangy and good to go. The cooking time for me was way off and I use a high end oven…I cooked it at 425 for almost 1 hour 20 minutes…I like the skin to be crispy. 40 minutes will not get it looking like the pictures here, but thats totally up to you. Everyone raved about it..thank you Elizabeth. Hope you don’t mind my recommendations to this wonderful receipe.
Just came across this recipe, and was reading the comments. You noted a marinade…but I don’t see any instructions about marinating in the recipe. Please clarify.
The chicken isn’t marinated, and I can’t find any reference to marinade in the recipe of comments. So not sure what it is you mean?
On the menu tonight.
@Abacus01: Glad your chicken turned out well! Yes, I always appreciate comments. It’s hard to give advice about cooking times with chicken. My chicken was really quite small, and so cooking times were short. Also, I don’t like my chicken too over done. It sounds like your chicken was probably bigger? Also, to cut down on cooking time (and eliminate drying out while still getting a crisp skin) move the oven tray up to the top of the oven, so that it almost broils at the end.
Did you know you have almost 500 saves on this recipe on Foodily? Woo hoo! – http://www.foodily.com/r/pBR7FGaWx
I just came across this post and don’t know how I missed it. Will definitely make it tonight.
Do you put all the sauce on in the beginning, and baste with the juices from the pan, or do you save sauce and baste with the fresh sauce? Thanks for the clarification! 🙂
Save the sauce and baste with fresh sauce. Hope you like it!
Made this tonight and everyone loved it! (I didn’t read through all the comments and basted with sauce/juices from the pan.) Will definitely print it out and add it to my cookbook!
Definitely making this over the weekend, it sounds delicious! Has anyone tried making a gravy using the drippings? My boyfriend is crazy about home made gravy so I was wondering if I could do that with this recipe. Thanks for the post!!
I usually just drizzle the pan drippings over the chicken.
Seriously one of the most delicious chicken recipes I have ever tried. I’ve turned friends and family onto it, too. I always keep coming back to this site because I forget the ingredients I need! Thank you so much for posting this so long ago- and keeping it here. I love this recipe!!
Thank you!! Glad you like this, an oldy but a goody!
Is this a recipe that can be made with boneless, skinless thighs?
Sure