Roasted Garlic Lemon Chicken

Roasted Garlic Lemon Chicken

This recipe is so delicious, and is very kiddo approved!!
This is one of those recipes you just can’t make once: that’s to say, after the first time, you’re hooked. It is gloriously easy: you just put everything in the roasting dish and leave it to cook in the oven, pervading the house, at any time of year, with the summer scent of lemon and thyme – and of course, mellow, almost honeyed garlic.The wonderful thing about it is that you turn the lemon from being a flavouring to being a major player; left in chunks to cook slowly in the oven they seem almost to caramelise and you can eat them, skin, pith and all, their sour bitterness sweetened in the heat.

Recipe credit: Out of the box food

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
• 3 lemons
• 4 bulbs garlic
• 3-4 sprigs rosemary
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Season with salt & pepper.
3. Cut tops off of three heads of garlic. Smash the fourth with the heal of your hand or the flat side of a wide knife to separate the cloves.
4. Slice lemons into thick slices (or wedges if desired)
5. Heat cast iron skillet (or heavy bottomed skillet) over medium-high heat.
6. Pour a tablespoon of olive oil into the skillet, then place lemon pieces and whole bulbs of garlic, cut side down in still hot skillet and brown for 2-3 minutes.
7. Remove lemon pieces and garlic bulbs to plate.
8. Place chicken, skin side down in hot skillet. (you may do this in batches depending on the size of your pan. Do not over-crowd the chicken. Over crowding will cause chicken to steam rather than brown.
9. When chicken is golden brown, flip (skin side up) and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes.
10. Press Lemon pieces onto each piece of chicken, leaving them to bake on top of the chicken pieces.
11. Place whole bulbs of garlic around the chicken.
12. Scatter garlic cloves (still in skins) around the chicken.
13. Break apart rosemary sprigs and distribute between chicken pieces
14. Place skillet in oven (uncovered) and roast for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

*If you don’t have an oven proof skillet large enough to hold all the chicken, do steps 5 – 9 in batches then place browned chicken, garlic and lemons in a large baking dish to complete steps 10-14.