Weeknight Lemon Chicken

Weeknight lemon chicken

Recipe courtesy of Around the Table by Julia Busuttil Nishimura, Macmillan Publishers, RRP $49.99

I am never, ever without lemons in my kitchen. They sit in a large wooden bowl on my bench, which is always topped up before they run out. I adore the proper backyard kind of lemons, with light, knobbly skins and blemishes. We had a lemon tree in our backyard when I was a child and it was the place I would go to read or relax in the shade. My fondness for lemons is lasting. This chicken dish has lemon juice as well as thin lemon slices, which lightly caramelise in the oven and add such a depth of flavour. Because the chicken is floured and fried in butter and oil and then met with lemon juice, the sauce thickens and becomes rich and pleasing. It is one of my favourite weeknight meals. Serve with roast potatoes and a lovely leaf salad.

Weeknight lemon chickenSERVES 4 – 6

Ingredients

  • 6 chicken thighs, skin on
  • sea salt and black pepper
  • plain flour, for dusting
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 100 ml dry white wine
  • 1 lemon, 1⁄2 juiced, 1⁄2 finely sliced
  • 3 rosemary sprigs

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Season the chicken well with salt and pepper, then coat it in plain flour, shaking off any excess.
  3. Warm the olive oil and butter in an oven-safe frying pan over medium–high heat, then add the chicken, skin-side down. Cook for 2–3 minutes, until golden. Turn the chicken over and cook for a further 2 minutes.
  4. Pour in the white wine, being careful not to pour it directly over the chicken, followed by the lemon juice.
  5. Nestle in the lemon slices and rosemary sprigs. Give the pan a good shake, then transfer to the oven and cook for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and golden, and the lemons are beginning to caramelise.