Recipe : Pan Fried Herbed Chicken

If I am busy through the week, then I like to marinate a couple of different kinds of meat and refrigerate them, so I can quickly bake or Pan Fry the dish for a quick dinner once I'm back home. I don't freeze my meat after marinating it because I dont like the taste and texture too much. Also the longest I keep uncooked meat marinated in the fridge is about 48 hours. As Indians we cook our meat way above the recommended heat and time levels to kill off bacteria + we have stronger stomachs :)

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo - 1 pound chicken (I used legs)
A little olive oil.

Marinade:

1-3 tsps of your favorite Italian herb mix (depends on how strong a flavor you want)
My mix included thyme, rosemary, oregano, chives and a solitary bottom-of-the-jar sundried tomato
2 tsps olive oil (plain or a flavored one - if flavored, it should compliment your spice mix - I used a lemon and thyme)
1 pod Chinese garlic - about 12 cloves roughly crushed (you can lessen this if you don't like garlic, but it gets completely cooked and has a very sweet taste at the end)

Some red chilli flakes or crushed black pepper to taste
salt to taste

dash of vinegar or lemon juice

Method:
Combine all the ingredients for the marinade.
Mix the chicken into the marinade

If baking the chicken, you can make a small slit along the bone and insert a bit of garlic from the marinade into that slit.
Marinate for at least 2 hours. I marinate this for 24 hours.

If Baking, bake as you normally would for any other boned chicken dish (not whole chicken)

To pan fry it:
In a hot pan, add a little olive oil (you can use the oil from the marinade too)
Sear the chicken pieces on both sides

Cover and cook till done.

I would normally serve this with another side of roast baby potatoes, but not wanting to up our carbohydrates any further, I just quartered one medium potato and added it to the pan while cooking.

Serve hot with pasta or bread.

Also in this picture Crunchy Veggie Pasta