This recipe is one of those Ina Garten treasures that was an instant favorite at our house. We rarely pull out the recipe because we’ve made it that many times. It’s got all the punches we love: bright citrus, savory onion and schmaltzy chicken goodness. We like to eat this over brown rice which invariably is never timed correctly. Hope you give this fav a shot!
Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lemon thinly mandonlined (yup, that’s a word now)
- 3 large garlic cloves also thinly mandonlined
- 1 yellow onion halved and sliced ¼ inch thick
- 2 tsps fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tsps whole fennel seeds
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 – 6 chicken thighs bone-in and skin-on
- 1/2 cup dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio
- Juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 F. Pull out a big Dutch oven and ready the mortar and pestle!
- I say a short prayer for my fingertips and then use my handheld oxo mandoline directly over the Dutch oven: first lemon slices spread evenly, then garlic clove slices. Next, rough chop the onions and throw those on top. Pat the chicken dry and put it in the Dutch skin side down.
- Grind fresh thyme, fennel seeds, salt and pepper and toss that into a bowl with the olive oil. Mix that up then use you silicone brush to spread it on the bottom of the chicken, flip it, and then generously brush the top.
- Now you’re ready to pop that bad boy in the oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, juice a lemon and grab a ½ cup of wine. At 30 minutes, add the wine to the Dutch oven (you’re deglazing so avoid the chicken) and put it back in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until you temp at 160 F. When it’s done remove the Dutch oven from the oven, gently pour the lemon juice over the chicken and let it sit covered for another ten minutes.
- Serve over rice and be sure to get a bit of the onion/lemon/garlic goodness from the Dutch oven to enjoy with your rice.