Galilee Citrus Chicken

It’s citrus season in the Galilee! And we are blessed with a lemon tree, an orange tree, grapefruits, clementines and mandarins. And a bounteous season it is! The fruit is exceptionally large and sweet this year!

I just learned that you can freeze the citrus fruit whole and squeeze the juice out of the thawed fruit up to 8 months later (after defrosting).

Even after sharing our produce with family, friends and neighbors leaves us with a surplus of fruit so this is great news for me.

Here is one of our favorite chicken dishes using fresh lemon, fresh orange, garlic, oregano and of course Galilee Green Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Ingredients

Lemon tree in our garden

• 1 whole lemon
• 1 whole orange
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon of dried oregano (or three tablespoons of fresh chopped oregano leaves)
  salt to taste
• 4 tablespoons of Galilee Green Olive Oil (GGOO)
• 4 dark meat chicken quarters (leave the leg and thigh attached)

Directions

Stuff citrus slices under the skin

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place the chicken quarters skin side up in a baking dish.
3. Chop the garlic and stuff it between the skin of the chicken and the meat.
4. Cut the lemon in half. Squeeze the juice out of one half and set aside. Slice the other half into half circles and stuff them between the skin and meat of the chicken distributing evenly between the pieces of chicken.
5. Cut the orange in half. Squeeze the juice out of one half and set aside. Slice the other half in half circles and stuff the orange slices under the chicken skin along side the lemons.
6. Combine the lemon juice and orange juice with the GGOO and pour over the chicken. Sprinkle with oregano and salt to taste.
7. Bake for about an hour and a half until golden brown.