Zingy Greek Chicken Thighs

This week my taste buds travelled to Greece, where a simple dish of chicken and rice was lifted by the freshness of lemon, lots and lots of lemon. I chose this dish as I had a busy week and needed something that would do for a few meals but was quick and easy to make. The weather has also improved quite a bit over the last few weeks, and I wanted something fresh and vibrant!

The only caveat to this recipe is that you ideally need a large frying pan that can go in the oven (I used one that was 28cm in diameter and about 5cm deep). If you don’t have one you can use a deep lasagne style-dish but you will lose some of the flavour as you transfer things from one pan to another.

You will also probably pick up as you read through recipes that I never mince garlic but always put it in whole. I have IBS and garlic triggers me, so I use it to flavour a dish but will always pick it out at some point in the cooking… if you’re like me (minus the IBS) and love garlic then please do mince it or chop it finely and keep it in! It can only add to the overall flavour!

I find this chicken dish makes an excellent table centre piece, the colours are vibrant and you can serve it straight at the table! It is quite a rich, chickeny dish and I would suggest serving with a refreshing salad.

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Serves 6

Ingredients:

For the Chicken

• 6 Chicken thighs, with skin and bone in. You could use drumsticks but will have to adjust cooking times.

• 1 lemon

• Fresh oregano

• 2 smashed garlic cloves.

• 1tbs olive oil

• 1/2 tsp salt

For the Rice

• 1tsp olive oil

• 1 red onion, diced or sliced.

• 1 ½ cups of long grain rice

• 3 cups of chicken stock or water

• fresh or dried oregano

• 3 smashed garlic cloves

• 1 lemon

• 1 tbs dried pomegranate seeds (optional)

• 1 tsp salt or to taste.

To serve

• Parsley

• Lemon zest

Method:

1. Marinate the chicken for an hour (or overnight if you can) by putting the chicken into a bag or a bowl with the zest of 1 lemon and half the juice, fresh oregano, the 2 smashed garlic cloves, 1tbs of olive oil and salt. Leave it in the fridge.

2. Preheat the oven to 176C or 350F, and heat the frying pan on the stove for about a minute on medium to high heat. Cut the lemon into 6 thick slices or rounds.

3. Add 1tsp of oil to the pan and spread it around. Add the chicken to the pan skin side down. Reserve the marinade for later. Note: The pieces of chicken should like next to each other comfortably in the large pan. If they don’t you will need to cook less chicken or use a bigger pan.

4. Once the skin of the chicken is nice and brown (around 2 minutes) turn it over and cook for a further two minutes. By this time, it should have released quite a lot of fat from the skin.

5. Remove the chicken from the pan and drain most of the fat, reserve around 1tbs.

6. Fry the onion until soft and translucent in the chicken fat. Once cooked add the rice, the stock or water, reserved marinade, oregano, garlic cloves, and dried pomegranate seeds to the pan. Bring the mix to a simmer. (If you don’t have a large frying pan that can go in the oven you could now transfer the mix to a pre-heated oven proof dish)

7. Nest the chicken thighs on the rice and put a lid onto the frying pan. (if you don’t have a lid cover tightly with foil). Put the pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and continue baking for 15 minutes until the skin is crispy and most of the liquid has evaporated.

8. Garnish with parsley and lemon zest.