One-Pot Lemon Chicken with Potatoes and Greens

Ingredients

• 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• 300 ml chicken stock
• 500 g new potatoes, halved
• 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 6 fresh thyme sprigs
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 150 g frozen peas
• 200 g cavolo nero, stems removed, leaves roughly torn
• Fine salt and black pepper
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 150 g natural yoghurt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 10 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Method

1. Pat the chicken thighs properly dry with kitchen paper. Season generously on both sides with salt and pepper before they go anywhere near the pan.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large, wide, lidded casserole over a medium-high heat. Lay the thighs skin-side down in two batches if your pan is tight; don't crowd them, or they'll steam in their own moisture instead of going burnished and golden. Cook undisturbed for 8–10 minutes; when the skin is deep mahogany and releases cleanly from the base, it's ready. Lift onto a plate.
3. Pour off all but a tablespoon of the fat, drop the heat to medium, and add the sliced garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds, just until fragrant and pale gold at the edges; don't let it go further. Keep the garlic moving and stop as soon as it smells sweet; it will keep cooking in the residual heat.
4. Pour in the white wine and let it bubble hard for a minute, scraping up the brown stuck bits from the base with a wooden spoon.
5. Add the stock, lemon zest, lemon juice and thyme sprigs, then tumble in the halved potatoes. Season the liquid; taste it; it should taste like a proper braising broth, not bland water.
6. Nestle the chicken back in skin-side up, resting on the potatoes so the skin stays clear of the liquid and keeps its crunch. Bring to a gentle simmer, lid on, and cook for 20 minutes until a knife slides into the potatoes with no resistance.
7. Lift the lid, scatter the cavolo nero and frozen peas around the chicken, push them down into the liquid, and cover again for 4–5 minutes until the leaves have collapsed and the peas are bright green. Check the thickest part reaches 75°C for 30 seconds.
8. While that finishes, stir the yoghurt with the grated garlic and the teaspoon of lemon juice. Season with a pinch of salt; taste it; it should be sharp, garlicky, and cool.
9. Fish out and discard the thyme stalks.
10. Bring the pot to the table. Scatter the torn parsley over the chicken and potatoes, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, squeeze a lemon wedge over the lot, and serve straight from the pan with the garlic-lemon yoghurt alongside.