Baked Chicken Provencal

Herbs de Provence is one of my favorite spice blends to use with chicken. Most herbs de Provence blends consist of thyme, rosemary, marjoram and lavender. The lavender gives such a nice, fresh flavor to the entire dish, in my opinion. The basic ingredients are common to southern France, where the blend originated.

This is so simple to prepare, yet tastes so elegant. Plan ahead so your chicken can marinate for a few hours or overnight, allowing the marinade to soften and add flavor to the meat.

Here's what you need:

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 TBSP herbs de Provence

In a large resealable bag, mix the olive oil, lemon juice and herbs de Provence. Add the chicken breasts and squish around until all the meat is covered. You can also do this is a glass dish, if you prefer. You might have to turn the chicken to make sure all of it gets marinated, as the liquid might not cover it all in a dish. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, or even better, overnight.

About an hour before cooking, remove the chicken from the fridge. The olive oil tends to solidify when it's refrigerated, so this will give it some time to liquefy again.

Pour the chicken and marinade into a baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink and the juices runs clear. About halfway through the cooking time, turn the chicken over and baste with some of the liquid. I usually give it a good soaking when I take it out of the oven, too. Do not overbake or the chicken will be dry.