meyer lemon chicken

This is the most-requested recipe on this site and it’s not even mine. It came from my friend Jodi of San Francisco Cooking School who adapted it from a recipe on the fabulous Food52. It’s so dang good, it gives chicken Calabrese  serious competition for best chicken dish ever. The secret is the cooking method — first the chicken is slowly braised in the oven then it’s roasted at a high temp to crisp the skin. I used the same technique this weekend on the end shank of a lamb leg and it was sublime.

ingredients

8 bone-in chicken thighs with skin
coarse sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1 head garlic, separated into unpeeled cloves
2 lemons (preferably Meyer), cut into chunky eighths
10 fresh thyme sprigs
5 fresh rosemary sprigs
about 3 tablespoons olive oil
2/3 cup white wine

directions

Preheat oven to 300°F. Put chicken thighs in a roasting pan and sprinkle well on all sides with salt and pepper. Add garlic cloves, lemon chunks, thyme and rosemary. Drizzle olive oil over all and, using your hands, mix everything well then spread out, making sure chicken pieces are all skin side up. Pour in white wine and grind on some more pepper. Cover tightly with foil and cook in the oven for 2 hours.

Remove foil from pan and turn oven up to 400°F. Roast the uncovered chicken for another 30 to 45 minutes or until the skin turns golden brown and the lemons have begun to brown and caramelize at the edges.