When I think of Greece I think of bright blue seas, white stone walls, warm sunshine, olives and lemons growing on trees, fresh oregano, and cold pressed olive oil. If I want a quick trip to the Mediterranean, I conjure up this dish and take a bite. Mmmm....
Ingredients:
3 large potatoes (red skinned or brown skinned - doesn't matter)
4 boneless chicken thighs with skin on*
1 HUGE bunch of fresh oregano (2 big handfulls - trust me!)
2 lemons (1 juiced, 1 cut into wedges)
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves, smashed and minced
1/2 stick butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil
salt
pepper
Instructions:
1. Peel the potatoes and cut into large wedges - about as big as lemon wedges if you cut a lemon into 4 pieces.
2. Boil the potatoes until fork tender. Drain the water.
3. Melt the butter in a large saute pan. Add the olive oil. Add the potatoes, salt, and pepper, once the butter is melted and the oil is hot.
4. Don't move the potatoes around. Meanwhile, cut your lemons into wedges. Take the wedges from 1 lemon and toss them into the pan with the potatoes.
5. Remove the oregano leaves from the stems by running your index finger and thumb against the stems. Discard the stems. Chop the oregano finely.
6. Add 1/2 the oregano to the saute pan.
7. Peel the onion and slice it. Add the onion to the pan. Add the garlic.
8. After about 7 minutes, stir the mixture around a little bit, carefully flipping the potatoes over. You should see the potatoes start to brown a bit. This is what you want.
9. Squeeze the remaining lemon wedges over the potato mixture in the pan. You want to use all of the juice.
10. After about another 7 minutes, move the potatoes around again. Add the chicken to the saute pan trying to make sure that the chicken is touching the bottom of the pan. (You want the chicken to brown.)
11. Sprinkle with additional salt and pepper. Add the remaining oregano.
12. Cook for another 5 minutes, turning chicken pieces once.
13. Cook 5 minutes more, turning chicken again, inspecting done-ness. You don't want to see any pink in your chicken.
14. When the chicken is cooked through, the dish is done.
Special Notes:
*You can substitute boneless, thick chicken breasts cut into thirds if you do not have boneless chicken thighs on hand or prefer white meat. I find using boneless chicken thighs adds more flavor to the dish. If you use chicken with the bones in it, it will take longer to cook on the stove.
When serving, I like to scrape the cooked lemon out of the rinds a bit over the potatoes and chicken. This adds additional lemon flavor to the dish. I do serve it with the lemons on the plates.
You can also give an extra squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the dish when serving, depending on how lemony you like things.
Serves 2 - 3. Add another potato and another piece of chicken to serve 4.