One cup of lemon juice, wow, that seems like an awful lot!
I wouldn't wash the chicken, just scrap off what you can. I would probably saute up some onions, roasted red peppers and maybe some mushrooms too. Reheat the chicken and then add the veggies to the chicken. NancyLouise

Can't imagine why it would taste bad......were they whole potatoes? You say casserole?
Sounds like maybe too much lemon and you likely used bottled lemon which I think tastes bitter.
Maybe just shred the chicken and add some BBQ sauce....toss the potatoes as they don't warm up well.
Hope you can save some of the food.
Linda C

Lemon and chicken, I think that can be saved. I'd either shred the chicken, as LindaC suggested, or remove it from the bone and make a creamy pasta type dish with it, I think the pasta would suck up some of the excess lemon.

The potatoes I wouldn't throw out either, I'd remove them from the sauce as much as possible and then make a creamy potato salad with them, probably.

Good luck, I did the same thing with chicken a couple of times, but it was garlic that I used too much of. No matter how many other people love it, 40 cloves of garlic is way too much for me!

Annie

How about using the chicken in a fajita way? Sort of use the lemon in place of the lime normally squeezed over it? Maybe? Potatoes? Mash them with other things added. Something stronger, like say, bleu cheese? Maybe? I'm working blind here without tasting it.

:)

Good luck!

I'd add some fresh chopped mint and diced canned tomatoes with some of the juice. And a tiny bit of cinnamon. Let it marinate in that for a bit in the frig and then heat it through.

I am the same way, but I have to say from my experience last night that sometimes it is best to let things go. I just wasted a whole lot of ingredients trying to improve a recipe that could not be saved. Best of luck to you, though.

I'd be interested in knowing whether the OP used bottled lemon juice or fresh. I think that would probably make a major difference. Bottled lemon juice is not something I buy but I always have fresh lemons on hand. No comparison.

If the casserole didn't taste good the first time around, I would just bite the bullet and toss it. No sense wasting time, ingredients and money on trying to save it.

Ann

I always have a bottle of lemon juice in the refrig....good for acidulating the water when I am peeling a lot of apples, for removing hard water scum from faucets, for bleaching fruit stains from white linens and mixing with salt to polish copper.
Linda C

Bottled lemon juice is pretty awful stuff. I buy Minute Maid frozen lemon juice and keep it on hand. I also buy fresh lemons but if I need a large quantity I simply buy a bottle of this for speed and ease.

Thinking possible mistake in amount of lemon juice... a CUP seems like an awful lot!?! Now the juice of 1 WHOLE lemon seems more realistic... a couple of TBSPs!?!

I did use fresh lemons. I used yukon gold potatoes and they were quartered. It really wasn't an overwhelming taste of lemon. The chicken and potatoes were oily and just had a weird taste that I cannot explain.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I am going to try and save it. Either do pasta as annie1992 suggested or saute veggies to add.

Next question: what kind of garlic? Fresh, dried, jarred?

Also, when I hear 'baked chicken' I think there is enough fat under the skin etc. - the 1/2 cup additional olive oil would really result in chicken pieces sitting in a good 1/2 inch of oil.....

Just curious where you got the recipe and if you can link to us.

Maybe - the olive oil was rancid??

Drain it, pat it as dry as possible with paper towels, separate potatoes from the chicken and use the chicken as suggested above - in a spaghetti sauce. Add some parm. cheese if you have it.

Dice the potatoes and make American fries or hash browns to go with another meal.

I think that's what I would do.

I think you could possibly remove some of the off flavor by poaching the chicken is a large pot of plain water. If that helps, then you could boil the potatoes as well and discard the water. It's too bad that you cannot explain the off flavor better, but you might want to mention your experience to the person/source from whom you got the recipe. They may be better able to help you.

Lars

jessyf, I used fresh garlic.

gardengal9, I thought of the olive oil being rancid. But I checked it and it's ok.

Here's the link to the recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lebanese-chicken-and-potatoes/detail.aspx

Lars, poaching is a good idea too. Thanks.

I also keep bottled lemon juice around, but I only use it when canning. The acidity of fresh lemons depends on the lemon, it's not guaranteed to be a certain level, so canning recipes always call for bottled lemon juice.

For any kind of cooking or baking other than that, it's fresh, the bottled stuff has a strange "off" flavor.

Annie

You just might not like that flavor profile even if the recipe/ingredients are fine. I made a Lebanese potato salad once with lots of lemon, olive oil and garlic and I didn't care for it even though I like all those things separately.

I just googled lebanese chicken and an allrecipes one came up, with the ingredients like you had. Very favourable reviews, some said it was too much lemon, and suggested cutting it back to 1/2 cup.

Like Chi said, the ingredients sound wonderful (similar to Greek with the lemon and olive oil). Must be the quantity that was distasteful.

Sounds terribly overcooked to me....30 minutes at 425 and another 30 minutes at 475 for a cut up chicken sounds like dried out, over cooked chicken to me, And no flavor but for oil and lemon....Sounds awful to me.....and I guess it lived up to expectations! LOL! Likely the chicken is too over cooked for anything else.

A nice simple alternative is :
put chicken pieces, par-boiled potato pieces, bacon chunks (lardons), whole shallots, seasoning and garlic in a baking tray. Pour on a LITTLE oil and bake for 25 mins. Add 1/2 cup dry white wine and cook for another 15 mins. Check on the sauce and add more wine of necessary. You can add herbs if you wish.

Part of cooking is making mistakes and learning from them.

Part of cooking is also throwing away food people do not want to eat after trying something new.

My teenage kids are very openminded when it comes to food, but there are times they will refuse to eat what is made because it was prepared wrong or overuse of a specific ingredient. However, If I was to ever repurpose food, they'd kill me.

Use the chicken to make a chicken salad for sandwiches, use the potatoes for a potato salad?

I took islay_corbel suggestion except I didn't add any more oil and added some veggies baked and it was edible. I was able to save the dish but the recipe is in the trash.

Thanks to all the suggestions.