Italian Sunshine Chicken
Wonderfully fast and easy, this flavourful chicken is light, healthy and somehow just bursting with Summer.
Ingredients
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 fat cloves of garlic
1 good tsp. paprika
1 good tsp. turmeric
2 cinnamon sticks
3 fresh bay leaves or small bunch thyme
Half a small lemon
250ml dry vermouth
Splash water
Oven 180c, 160 fan, gas 6
Method
Ideally using a stove top to oven pan, brown the top side of the chicken thighs in a drop of olive oil on a brisk heat. Remove and keep warm.
In the same pan, gently fry the onion with a pinch of salt until translucent and then grate in the garlic
Add the paprika and turmeric and stir around for a minute or so until fragrant.
Add the vermouth, bubble it up and return the chicken to the pan.
Tuck in the bay leaves or thyme, the half lemon cut in half again and the two cinnamon sticks.
Cover and cook in the oven for about 40 minutes by which time the thighs when probed should read 74c.
Helpful Hints
I like this simply served with new potatoes and fine green beans, but this Italian Summer Chicken also goes well with my Roast Romano Peppers with Cherry Tomatoes, Yoghurt and Feta- click the image to see my recipe.
When browning chicken with skin, try to resist moving it. The skin may stick to the pan at first and poking it about can pull it off, or tear it. The chicken will naturally loosen itself from the pan after a minute or two.
Little bottles of spices tend to lose flavour after about a year, so give them the sniff test. Cinnamon sticks are particularly susceptible to losing fragrance unfortunately.
Click for more quick and easy chicken thigh recipes