Lemon & Oregano Baked Chicken

Chicken is great; it’s so versatile and you can combine it with many different herbs and spices to get a huge variety of dishes.

I love a traditional Sunday Roast but sometimes it’s nice to try something a bit different. This is where Jamie Oliver steps in… His latest series (Jamie at Home) is great for picking up new ideas and this recipe is based on his “Tender and crisp chicken legs with sweet tomatoes” dish.

Ingredients

4 or 5 chicken thighs with the bone removed
5 potatoes, peeled and chopped in half
5 juicy, red tomatoes
1 lemon
4 cloves of garlic
a nice big handful of fresh oregano
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
salt & pepper (to taste)
some olive oil

Makes enough for 3 or 4 people

Method

Chop the chicken roughly into finger sized strips and chop (or crush) the garlic cloves. Heat up a large pan with a splash of olive oil, then add the chicken, garlic, the fresh thyme and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

If I was going for a spicy version of this dish, I’d add a few chopped chillis at this point.

While your chicken is cooking, blanche the tomatoes – put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, leave for around 20-30 seconds, drain water, then pour cold water over them. The skin of the tomato will now be easy to peel off.

You’ll also want to par-boil the potatoes – place the peeled potatoes into boiling water for around 10 or 15 minutes until they’re quite soft.

Remember to stir your chicken around while it’s cooking so that it browns up nice and evenly. When the chicken looks pretty much done, put it into a roasting tin (or any deep oven-proof dish you have) and add the blanched tomatoes with skins removed and the potatoes.

If you have a pestle and mortar, place the fresh oregano leaves in it and give it a good, hard bashing! Really beat it up – imagine it’s the face of someone you despise! This will help release the flavour and make it taste wonderful. Add a bit of olive oil to the oregano – roughly three tablespoons – stir it around and then pour this ‘oregano oil’ over the chicken mixture.

If you don’t have a pestle and mortar, you can try to bruise the oregano by placing it on a wooden chopping board and mash it with a rolling pin or spoon. Once looking mushy, pop it in a bowl and add the olive oil.

Squeeze the juice of a lemon all over the food and place in a pre-heated oven for about 35 minutes at about 220 degrees or gas mark 7.

I made a tasty gravy from the discarded bones of the chicken thighs – any old gravy will do really.

If you like, serve this with steamed green beans and carrots. Enjoy as an alternative Sunday Roast!

Yum!