Lemon-Garlic Chicken with Creamed Corn

Have you ever seen a recipe and knew right away you were in love? I couldn't believe how simple, yet craving-inducing this little chicken recipe was. Plus, it was served over one of my favorites: creamed corn. As Summer winds down, corn is still at the forefront. I grew up on this stuff (my Grandparents had/have a huge garden in Mendon), and still remember my Grandma and Grandpa eating corn vigorously from left to right like speedy typewriters at the dinner table.

When I was a little girl, my Mom would serve corn all the time. She knew how much I loved cream corn, so sometimes she'd make a little saucepan of creamed corn just for me (even though she had 1 adult + 3 other kid's taste buds to satisfy at dinner time). It always made me feel extra special, and to this day I love creamed corn. However... I had never tried making it from scratch until last week. It's BEYOND easy! And tastes like heaven on a spoon.

I adjusted the recipe to use less chicken, and only drumsticks. Also, I used fresh corn on the cob instead of frozen corn. 

The milky-creamy texture of the prepared corn along with the zesty-almost-garlicy-spicy taste of the chicken drumsticks was enough to send me over the edge of reason. It was just too good. The smell of the chicken and whole garlic roasting in the oven made for such a perfect afternoon, and a surprisingly easy dinner to throw together.

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Lemon-Garlic Chicken with Creamed Corn (from the cob)

Ingredients:
2 T EVOO
5-6 skin-on chicken drumsticks
salt and pepper
3 T all-purpose flour
12 cloves garlic (about 1 head)
2 lemons (finely grated zest of one, juice of both)
2 T unsalted butter
4 ears of corn, shucked, hard ends removed
3/4 C whole milk
2 T chopped fresh chives

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. In a large pot, fill water about halfway, and place cobs of corn in water. Heat to a boil, put lid on pot, and remove from heat right away. Let sit with lid on until chicken is in the oven.
3. Heat EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) in a large nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper, and 2 tablespoons of flour.
5. Add to skillet and cook, turning, until slightly golden on all sides, about 5 minutes.
6. Add whole garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice, and turn the chicken to coat.
7. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Check it at around 15 minutes, but it should take about 20 minutes.
8. While your chicken is roasting in the oven, drain the corn on the cob and remove kernels.
9. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the corn and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook until corn softens (stirring occasionally), about 5 minutes.
10. Add in the remaining 1 tablespoon flour, then add milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring, until thickened, about 5 minutes.
11. Stir in chives and season with salt and pepper.
12. Divide chicken among the plates and drizzle with the pan juices - serve over creamed corn.

Recipe Adapted from: The Food Network Magazine, 2012 August Issue