Roasted Chinese Five Spice and Garlic Chicken

Our enjoyment of the Whitewater Cooks series continues, with another tasty recipe, this time for chicken.  Trying this recipe was another in the "let's get out of our January food blues and try new recipes" weekend.  We eat a lot of chicken in our house, how about you? And we are always looking for new flavours for our chicken.  In search of that "perfect" one perhaps?!  Today's recipe is for Roasted Chinese Five Spice and Garlic Chicken.  Here is the recipe:

3 lbs chicken (I used boneless skinless chicken breasts, the original recipe called for a whole organic chicken)
6-8 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon salt
4 tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons Chinese five spice powder
4 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 cup cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
2 limes, quartered for garnish

In a bowl, mix together the crushed garlic, salt, sesame oil, vegetable oil, Chinese five spice powder, rice vinegar and chili flakes.  Mix well.  Add in the cilantro and mix to combine.  Either add the chicken to the bowl and cover, or pour into a sealable plastic bag, add the chicken to the bag and seal.  Allow the chicken to marinate in the bowl or bag for at least 4 hours or overnight in the fridge (I put ours together the night before).  Be sure to flip your chicken occasionally to ensure full coverage in the marinade.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Remove the chicken from the marinade and place in a foil line roasting pan (I foil line for easier clean-up).  Bake in the oven for 1 – 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear.

Squeeze lime over the chicken and serve.

VERDICT:
So I must share...silly us forgot to squeeze the lime over the chicken, and at first we were all "ummmm...not sure about this meal" and then we squeezed the lime, and voila, much better!  We did find the original recipe a little salty, so I have adjusted the recipe above to have only 1 tablespoon of salt (rather than 2).  Having said that, we will give this recipe a try again to see if the less added salt helps out.  We did enjoy the overall flavour, even the kids did too!