Roasted Chicken

Once again, I apologize for lack of pictures.  I still have no AA batts to put in the camera.  I know I’m lame….I can’t help it ;p Anyways, this is the chicken hubby and I had for dinner tonight and it was fabulous!!  Here’s the rub I put on the chicken:

All-Purpose Chicken Rub (makes enough to cover 2 lbs of chicken)

•  1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp curry powder (used a non-spicy curry in this rub)
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste (I kept these separate from the rub, sprinkled them right onto chicken)

Roasted Chicken 

Place bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts in a shallow roasting pan.  Salt and pepper chicken, then add rub.  Coat with extra virgin olive oil and bake in a 375°F oven for about 45 -50 minutes, depending on thickness of breasts.

That’s it!  Too bad I don’t have any pics of the chicken….it looked gorgeous!

The secret to the rub is the coriander….it’s a very under-utilized spice IMHO.  Coriander is the seed from the cilantro plant.  It tastes nothing like cilantro, but does have a wonderful bright flavor…almost lemony in a way.  Coriander tastes best when placed on food that is either roasted for about an hour or cooked at high temps (grilling, pan-searing, broiling, etc.).  Coriander needs the heat to really develop it’s flavor.  Coriander pairs well with ginger, but also cumin in my opinion.  The smokiness of the cumin with the bright, lemony coriander is a good combo, and one that I use on chicken A LOT!

The rub is good on pork, beef and maybe would work on fleshier fishes (salmon, etc) that could withstand the flavor.  Delicate fishes (tilapia, etc) wouldn’t work here.