Happy cooking accidents happen. My new tequila lime chicken recipe.

If the accident turns out something delicious, just pretend like you meant to do that!

Last evening my plan was to make tequila chicken from a recipe I found on Atkins website. Their recipe called for:

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 ounces tequila
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Basically the instructions had you make a marinade, toss the breasts in it for a second, take them out and bake at 400º on a sheet pan. That sounds fine. But I like to vary a bit, and wanted to add some lime juice. I was also not into getting all tense about exact measurements. It's just a marinade after all. So here were my ingredients, mixed right in a shallow baking dish:

few glugs of vegetable oil
big handful finely chopped fresh cilantro
glug and a half tequila (probably about 2 parts oil and 1 part tequila)
half a lime squeezed real good
couple teaspoons ground cumin
some kosher salt, like maybe 1/2 teaspoon
few grinds black pepper
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

I tossed the chicken in the marinade, turned them a few times to coat, left it all right in that dish and threw it in the oven. About 20 minutes in I realized my error. I didn't take chicken out of the marinade. By the time I checked them, they were about 1/2 covered in the marinade, mixed with their own juices. I was a little nervous, but decided to let it go.

This turned out to be the juciest baked chicken I have made in quite a while. Honestly it was almost like the breasts were poached in the liquid, which helped keep them nice and moist. They weren't exactly gorgeous and brown, but I had made an avocado sauce to put on them, so it didn't really matter. (The avocado sauce was one whole avocado, about a half cup of mayo, the juice of the other half of the lime I had cut, some salt & pepper, about a teaspoon of cumin and a shake or two of some dark chili powder... in a blender, delicious).

My next alteration of this recipe will involve pounding the breasts thin, pan searing them in some oil and the spices and probably some garlic, deglazing with the tequila and lime juice and finishing in the oven. Who knows, that might work out too.

I'm starting to relax a bit in the kitchen, which makes it a lot more fun. And when Bob says "you can make that again!" I just hope and pray I can remember how I did it!