So I have to say, this one is pretty damn good, especially for a typical Mike’s-meat-plus-onions-plus-mushrooms meal. Again, arising from what I had in the house at the time, this one took me by surprise. It’s a lime-based chicken with spicy and sweet crunchy onions. The crunchiness of the spicy caramelized onions is just so good with the juicy tangy chicken.Ok, so here goes…

Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Cayenne pepper
• Brown Sugar
• 2 medium sized onions
• 4-6 mushrooms
• 1lb chicken tenders (the cut of meat not the BK nuggets)
• Montreal Steak Seasoning (can I go one recipe without it?)
• 1 lime
• 1 tsp White or Rice Wine vinegar
• 1 tbs Mango Hot Sauce (or hot sauce + mango nectar or jam of choice)
• pinch of salt
• fresh mint

Directions

The spice and the chicken:

1. Cut up the tenders into 1-2 in pieces. Sometimes the tenders have a big thick tendon in them, it’s good to remove it by sliding a knife underneath the exposed tendon end and slowly cutting it away.
2. Place chicken in a bowl and add many good shakes of Montreal Steak Seasoning, about 1/2-1 tsp of brown sugar, a few shakes of the mango hot sauce, about 5 fresh mint leaves which you can chiffonade to be fancy, and a pinch of the good ‘ol cayenne (again, not for the faint of heart).
3. Mix all of this yum up in the bowl with your hand, cover in plastic wrap, and let sit for 30 min.

The crunch:

1. Like an old wise man told me once, the crunch is in the onions. First slice the onions in half lengthwise (bisecting the rings) and cut in to small (~1/8 in.) slices. The thinner you make them the easier they are to crisp up.
2. Then heat a pan up to medium-high heat and add about 2 tbs of olive oil.
3. Add the onions, along with a pinch of salt and toss in pan for about 2 minutes, so that everything gets coated and cooks a little.
4. After that, sprinkle liberally with brown sugar (about 1-2 tbs), and add a WELL DISTRIBUTED pinch of cayenne pepper. If you just throw it in, you risk having one very very spicy onion. You can vary the size of the pinch depending on your love of spice.
5. Then add a dash of vinegar, and toss in pan on medium high heat (still) for about 3 more minutes.
6. Once you see the onions starting to turn brown, turn the heat down to medium low and let crisp up. Could take up to 10 minutes depending on how crunchy you want them. Make sure to toss or move around with a spatula so that it doesn’t stick or clump up.
7. Once crisp, set aside for later.

The citrus:
So here’s where we put it together…and adding the citrus, because, you know, that’s the name of this directions subsection.

1. After the chicken has marinated, add it to pan on medium high heat with 1 tsp of olive oil (wait for it)
2. Let cook 1 minute on each side (wait for it)
3. Add the juice of 1-2 large limes (ooo, there it is)
4. Thinly slice up the mushrooms and add to mix
5. Cook another 3-4 minutes until chicken is done.

Plate and add reheated crispy onion on top with some mint leaves for garnish. Enjoy!