Olive and Lemon Chicken

As you probably know, I like to roast and I love one-pan dishes. This isn't really a one-pan dish, although to be honest, I would be perfectly happy eating it with a baguette to sop up the juices. I served it with rice at my mom's request. 

Before someone asks, the rice is very yellow because I sprinkle in 1/8 teaspoon of turmeric when I cook it. I have to say that I'm a little bit skeptical about the amazing health properties attributed to turmeric, but I figure it's easy enough to throw it into my food, just in case. It certainly won't hurt. Right?

This dish is easy and quick because chicken tenders cook fast. My big concern was getting garlic flavor into it. I went with garlic powder because garlic burns quickly. Then it occurred to me that garlic is often roasted with the peel on. So I found some nice big garlic cloves and peeled off only the flaky outer layers that came off easily. I popped them into the dish, figuring they would probably be raw-ish or hard as rocks. 

Hah! They fooled me. They were perfect for squeezing out of the peels and adding to the dish. I served them still in the peels because I thought that was fun and they looked cute.

As it turned out, my chicken tenders were still mostly frozen when I took them out of the fridge. Oops! I used them anyway and added five minutes to the cooking time. They came out perfect. I recommend using thawed tenders, but it's always good to know frozen ones will work in a pinch.

Use a roasting pan large enough for most of the ingredients to fit in a single layer.

Olive and Lemon Chicken Tenders

4 slices of onion
1/2 cup green olives, pitted
2 heaping tablespoons capers
4 large garlic cloves with peel on
3-4 slices lemon
1 pound chicken tenders
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pink sea salt
pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400. Place the onions in a roasting pan, separating the rings. Add the olives, capers, garlic cloves, lemon slices, and chicken tenders. In a small cup or bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Pour over the ingredients in the pan. Turn several times to coat. Roast 15 minutes, turn everything again and roast another 10 - 15 minutes. Cut into a fat chicken tender to be sure they're cooked through. Serve over rice or pasta, or with a crusty bread.

Whisk oil with lemon and seasonings.

1/2 cup olives.

Oops. Chicken was still frozen!

After cooking. It makes a nice little sauce.

My new little muse!

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