SWEET AND SOUR LEMON CHICKEN

I'm a serious citrus fan.   More specifically a fan of anything with lemons.  When I was a kid my Gammy squeezed a bit of lemon on everything she served from schnitzel to fish and even her fruit salad, just to add a little flavour.  I have adopted this habit and have become a lemon-lover myself.  

One day day while flipping through my mum's copy of The Silver Palate Cookbook, I came across this recipe for lemon chicken, tried making it and loved it.  Since then I have seen the recipe floating around the internet, some versions with slight variations, but the idea generally the same.  Lunch, dinner, leftover in a salad the next day, you can't go wrong with this recipe. 

For the chicken

8 boneless chicken breast or 12 boneless chicken thighs

2 cups fresh lemon juice

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons grated lemon zest

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup chicken stock

1 tsp lemon extract

2 lemons, sliced paper-thin

In a large ziplock bag, add chicken pieces and lemon juice.  Marinate in the fridge overnight, turning occasionally.

Preheat oven to 350F. 

When ready to cook it, drain chicken and pat dry. Fill another plastic bag with the flour, salt, paprika, and black pepper, and shake well to mix. Put 2 pieces of chicken into the bag at a time and shake, coating completely. Shake off any excess flour.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Fry the chicken pieces in batches a few at a time, until well browned and crisp.

Arrange browned chicken in a single layer in a large glass baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with the lemon zest and brown sugar. Mix the chicken stock and lemon extract together and pour around the chicken pieces. Set a thin lemon slice on top of each piece of chicken.

Bake chicken until tender, approximately 50 minutes.