No more excuses!

For all of you out there who do not cook because you don’t have time and/or think it is cheaper to eat microwave/processed meals, listen up! I would like to introduce you to Donna Hay and her “fast five” section in Style at Home. In particular, her Lemon Chicken ~ I swear, no more than 5 minutes prep and you are done. Right from the magazine, this is it:

“Flatten (butterfly) a 2 lb chicken and place in a baking dish with four lemon halves and 6 cloves of garlic. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked black pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Cook in a 400 F oven for 35 – 40 minutes or until cook through.”

Now, if you are saying chicken is not cheap, I call balls! Get yourself to Loblaw (not sure what happened to the ‘S’ but that’s what they call it now) as they have TWO chickens on for $10 all week. Stock up and freeze!

I have made this twice and it takes every ounce of strength I have not to eat the entire bird in one go but if you restrict yourself to just the nice brown parts of skin you won’t go overboard too much.

If you want to get ‘fancy’ slice your garlic cloves in half and use a sharp knife to cut slits in the chicken skin and slide them inside. Add some extra cloves to the pan if you like roasted garlic, and who doesn't?

For more brown skin, after you drizzle the oil, rub it in with your hands (or use a brush if you are squeamish about touching chicken). Give the lemons a half squeeze as well and if you want a real tangy flavour give them another squeeze post-roasting.

If you have Fleur De Sel, like I do since I was in France last year (did I mention that?) it is a fabulous addition as well. For easy clean up, line the roasting pan with parchment paper and simply bin it when you're done.

A green salad or, even easier, mashed potatoes (or both) and presto, dinner is ready. So good and so affordable.