Lemon & Olive Chicken Bake

So tonight's dinner is Lemon & Olive Chicken Bake, and it is delish.

I love this dish firstly, because it is one pot, secondly because it is just bursting with flavour and thirdly, because it is currently warming up my house :)

And it's fairly simple to boot.

Lemon & Olive Chicken Bake - Serves 2

• 6 Chicken Pieces of your choice ( i recommend skin on).
• 1/2 large onion diced
• 2 table spoons olive oil
• 4 to 6 garlic cloves thinly sliced
• 2 lemons (see instuctions below)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halves
• 1/4 cup mixed olives
• 2 cups chicken Stock
• Pinch smoked Paprika
• Pinch Sumac (or chilli of your choice)
• 150 - 200g feta cheese
• 3 sprigs Basil
• small handful of parsley

First up, prep your lemons. Mr G hates the taste of lemon pith (and I'm not such a fan myself to be honest), so For a dish where you are cooking the lemons into the sauce,  always only use the flesh. So fist step, zest your lemons. Did i mention where making a gremolata to go with this? No, I didn't, yeah, that was on purpose. I am a big advocate for gremolata and most people will usually skip it if they know it is there, thinking it is just a decoration, but it is oh so much more! You'll understand when you get to the end of this recipe and smell (and taste) the amazingness it adds (you can thank me later).

So are those lemons zested yet? Good. So put the zest aside. Now take one of the lemons and cut it in quarters and remove the pith (it doesn't matter if you leave some lemon behind, just save it and squeeze the juice out of it straight into the pan after you brown the chicken). Then simply cut each segment into thirds and put aside. Then just cut the other one in half and set aside until the very end (where going to squeeze it over when we get it out of the oven).

Take the "chicken pieces of your choice" (i had a chicken breast and 2 marylands sitting in the freezer, so i just jointed the marylands into 2 pieces and cut the breast into 3rds (it was a big breast). Season liberally with fresh ground salt and pepper.

Brown the "chicken of your choice" in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, making sure to put them skin side down first). I used my lidded cast Iron skillet for this, but and deep sided frypan or shallow pot that is oven safe will do. Don't have a lid? alfoil will do in a pinch.

Once golden brown, transfer to a plate. Now turn down the heat and cook your onions in the remaining oil until soft (not browned). Once translucent, add your garlic and stir around for 30 seconds. Now add your lemon pieces, smoked Paprika, sumac and chicken stock. Bring to the boil and add your chicken pieces back in. reduce to a medium boil, and cook for about 10 minutes or until the liquid reduces by about half.

Pre- heat your oven to 200 degrees.

Now while your waiting for it to reduce, mix together your cherry tomatoes and your olives. You may have remembered the "Tomato and twin olive topper" i made for the anniversary cheese toast on the weekend.

Not surprisingly, we still had some left over, so i added this with some extra green olives instead. But you can just add the tomatoes and olives listed in the ingredients.

Now cover your cooking vessel and place into the oven and let cook for about 20 to 30 minutes (depending on whether your chicken had bones in or not).

Once the chicken is cooked through, remove the lid and sprinkle with the feta cheese. I like to then brown it under the grill, or you can just leave it in the oven for another 5 minutes or so.

Now for the serving, before servicing, squeeze over your reserves lemon halves and sprinkle with the gremolata and take a deep breath. Smell the lemony basily goodness as the heat hits the mix and releases the oils.

Place on the table and watch it be devour.

Viola :)