Do you ever have recipes that you keep looking at, maybe even buying the ingredients for, but never making? This was one of those recipes for me. It is a slight variation on something form the Gourmet cookbook, and I’ve been looking at it for at least two years now. Now that I’ve finally made it, I wish I had tried it sooner.

You might even have all the ingredients you need for this in your pantry/fridge right now. I used Key lime juice because I had some left over from a Key lime pie I baked and froze before Christmas (I didn’t want to throw away all the egg yolks that weren’t needed for the macarons and peppermint meringues). But the recipe actually calls for the juice of regular limes, so either one will work.

And in case you’re wondering: Yes, the Key lime pie is calling to me from the freezer. Its siren song is punctuated by steel drums. But I will not eat any (more) of it until at February, so help me God.

Isn’t raw chicken gross? The finished product isn’t especially beautiful, either, but I think that’s because I used skinless breasts and didn’t broil it at the end. I don’t mind though — it tasted great!

Key lime-garlic chicken (adapted from the Gourmet cookbook)
1/4 cup Key lime or regular lime juice (fresh preferred)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 chicken breast halves (about 2 pounds), rinsed and patted dry

Whisk lime juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Place chicken breasts in bowl and turn to coat. Place chicken breasts in a large plastic zipper bag and pour marinade in bag. Close bag tightly and refrigerate at least two hours, turning bag once or twice.

Place a rack in the upper third of oven and preheat oven to 400.

Take chicken out of marinade (throw away the bag and the rest of the marinade) and arrange breasts in a shallow baking dish — skin side up, if they have skin. Try not to crowd them.

Roast chicken in oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until cooked through. If using chicken breasts with skin, turn oven to broil and broil chicken about two inches from heat until skin is crisp (about two minutes).