Easy Rosemary Lemon Chicken

I really have been trying to cook this week, but with schedules and the heat and laziness all setting in, our dinners have looked more like this than actual food:


Um, yeah, that would be frozen potstickers in pho broth.

So it was a little sad how excited I got about making an "actual" dinner, even if it wasn't anything earth shattering. But it was easy and it was tasty, so if you're in the same I don't wannnnna cook spot, you may want to keep something like this in mind. Cause really, it doesn't have to be fancy to be good, as much as the Martha Stewart in me wants to disagree.


Lemon Pepper Rosemary Chicken
two large boneless skinless chicken breasts
zest of one lemon (keep the lemon)
about a tsp olive oil
big pinch fresh pepper (red kampot is pretty!)
2 minced garlic cloves
tsp or so of rosemary
salt

Mix the zest, oil, pepper, garlic and rosemary in a small bowl.

Slice deep "pockets" down the long side of the chicken, and spread the lemon mix inside each breast. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Slice the lemon into thin slices.

Over medium high heat, coat a large saute pan with cooking spray. Add chicken and top with several lemon slices. Let brown about 3 minutes, then move the slices aside and flip the chicken. Brown other side another few minutes, then reduce heat a bit to medium. Do whatever with the lemon slices…put them back on top of the chicken as it cooks, or next to it, take it out, whatever you want (but they get pretty tasty if they cook with the chicken the whole time). But keep an eye out-the lemon juice caramelizes a bit and will burn, so if it looks like it needs a little water, add some. I ended up adding about a 1/4 cup after about 10 minutes, then covering partially with a lid and cooking another 5 minutes. (Total of about 20 minutes cooking time)

Served with baked sweet potatoes (pierce with fork, then cook at 400 for 40-50 minutes or until soft…length of time depends on size of potatoes) and spinach steamed in the same pan the chicken cooked in-just added a bit more water, added spinach, then covered over medium-low heat until wilted.