This is a dish made for spring. Make it for Mother’s Day, make it anytime, because it’s bright and flavorful personality is sure to please anyone who comes to your dinner party.

And it couldn’t be easier.

Spring is my favorite time of year because everything is alive and in full bloom: the lilacs, with their welcome aroma buzzing through the air; the tulips popping their heads out from their winter slumber; and the herbs, green and verdant and perfect for topping off a freshly-baked “spring chicken” dish.

I had to make the joke. I’m not sorry.

This is one of those quick and easy dinners you can throw together after work, or begin the prep work ahead of time the night before. While I suggest (and recommend) at least an hour’s marinade, even a half hour will do.

Chili and lime are a classic combination of flavors: spicy, fruity — made even more so from a hefty glug of olive oil — and with a slight tang from the lime, it’s perfect for spring.

This dish works best with bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, although you can can use breasts of the same nature, or even boneless, skinless chicken breasts will do. In fact, in my first preparation (photographed here), I used them in a pinch. Just adjust the cooking time to accommodate your selected cuts.

Speaking of meat, you can also give this same treatment to pork tenderloin, pork chops or even grilled steak. In fact, you could skip baking altogether and grill the chicken either inside or out. And now, as I write this, I’m going to try that next time.

Now to address the elephant in the room: Mother’s Day. Every year it’s a harrowing decision of what to do: go out for brunch? Is it a dinner party type of affair, or will the celebration be small? Well, this will actually be the first Mother’s Day since my mother moved back to Connecticut, so I’m hopeful she would know I’d make this for her if we were together.

So in honor of my mother, the ever-invasive, perpetually-prying and all-around best mother I could ask for, Laurie, Happy Mother’s Day. I’m drinking pink wine in your honor.

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].

Chili-lime chicken with spring herbs
Start-to-finish: 2 hours (1 hour active)
Serves: 4

2 pounds chicken breasts, thighs or a combination of the two, preferably bone-in and skin on
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for baking
2 limes, zested and juiced, more for serving
8 cloves garlic, 4 left whole
1 shallot, sliced thin
1 tablespoon chile flakes
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch nutmeg
½ cup basil, roughly chopped

Prepare the marinade: In a large bowl, combine the lime juice, whole and minced garlic, shallot, salt, pepper, chile flakes, cumin and nutmeg and stir to dissolve the salt. Add the oil and mix to combine. Add chicken and toss to coat. Cover and leave at room temperature for one hour, or marinate in the fridge for eight hours or up to overnight. If refrigerating, allow chicken to come to room temperature before baking.

When ready to cook, heat oven to 350 degrees.

On a rimmed baking sheet, place chicken pieces a couple inches apart, topping each with more olive oil and nestling of the garlic cloves from the marinade underneath the meat (it will become sweet and soft as it bakes). 

Bake chicken for 30-40 minutes, until the thickest part of the chicken reads 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. If using both white and dark meat, remove the white meat from the oven first — it will cook faster.

When done, remove chicken from the oven and garnish with the basil, additional chile flakes and fresh lime juice. Serve with rice, or with roasted potatoes or vegetables.