When I first started this Blog it was for my Son Simon, he had left home and would often ring me for recipes and cooking advice, I thought it would be nice to have all our favourite family recipes in one place, not long after I started writing it someone mentioned that there were rather a lot of cakes and desserts on here! That does seem to be the case, I do have a rather sweet tooth, I do love to bake and I do seem to rather go off track sometimes and forget the purpose of this site.

So I am taking it back to its roots and I am posting a recipe that I think Simon would absolutely love and one he could easily throw together after work.

This dish is very simple but bursting with flavour and because of how it is baked the chicken stays ridiculously yummy and moist, to me chicken and chips is the ultimate comfort food and a dish I often order from my favourite pub, The Bell in Godstone. This easily rivals theirs, the chips, even though they were frozen ones, were very bistro as Hubby covered them in butter and baked them for twice as long as the packet said, then he covered the chips with the juices from the cooked chicken, it was heavenly. Simple, but it works.

Its been a mad week, I have been neglecting the blog, haven’t done any baking due to vast amounts of decorating being undertaken by ‘moi’, all by myself I might add, I must be mad, but hopefully things will be back to normal soon and I will be back with effort, energy, and enthusiasm, I promise, but for now, I hope you enjoy this quick post and I really hope that Simon loves it too.

Buon appetito

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2 tbsp. lemon zest
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp. fresh rosemary leaves, finely minced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2-4 lbs. of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs or drumsticks
2-3 tbsp. melted butter
Thinly sliced lemons, for garnished

Combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper in a large zipper-lock plastic bag. Seal the bag and shake well to blend. Place the chicken pieces in the bag with the marinade, pressing out excess air and sealing once more. Refrigerate and let marinate for a minimum of 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 220 C, 425˚ F. Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and transfer to a baking dish, skin-side up, reserving the leftover marinade. Brush the top of each piece of chicken with melted butter.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, until the skins are crispy and well-browned. Halfway through baking, pour the remaining marinade over the chicken pieces in the baking dish. Once fully baked, cover loosely with foil and let rest 10 minutes before serving. Transfer to a serving platter, garnish with lemon slices and serve.