Greek lemon chicken

Ask me about my top 5 best-ever meals and invariably a simple lunch I enjoyed on a very remote Greek island comes to mind. We’d anchored our yacht in a teeny harbour and strolled a few metres to a restaurant boasting a mere three tables. As we sipped ice cold Greek white wine we watched a small boy catching fish from the pier. Half an hour later we were tucking in to his catch, done incredibly simply – just dusted in flour and fried in good olive oil. A proper Greek salad (no lettuce!) a drizzle of lemon, some tzatziki and pita on the side and that was it.

I remember that meal to this day. And that’s the thing about Mediterranean cooking – it may be big on flavour, but at its heart it’s incredibly simple. Like this Greek lemon chicken – pungent garlic, fragrant dried oregano, zesty lemon, peppery olive oil… It really doesn’t need anything else. Other than a glass of cold white wine of course.

All you need for this Greek lemon chicken is…

4 chicken leg quarters (i.e. the whole leg with drumstick and thigh still connected)
dried oregano
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt flakes
freshly ground black pepper
2 plump garlic cloves
8 Tbsp room temperature salted butter
4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
4 lemon slices

Pat the chicken dry. Mix two tablespoons of butter with two teaspoons oregano. Gently lift the skin off the leg meat and push the herbed butter under the skin. Brush the chicken skin with extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle a few pinches of oregano over the chicken, season with sea salt flakes and give it a few twists of black pepper. Place chicken in a shallow ovenproof roasting dish. Use the side of a chef’s knife to smash open the garlic and place the garlic cloves in the roasting dish. Tuck in the lemon slices, add the rest of the butter and add the lemon juice to the dish. Pop it into a pre-heated 180 degrees Celsius oven until golden and cooked through.

Serve this Greek lemon chicken with crusty bread like baguette or Greek pita to soak up all that wonderful garlicky, lemony, buttery juice! A simple Greek salad on the side and a glass of crisp, cold white wine and I’m happy.