One-Pot Lemon Chicken with Potatoes and Greens

Ingredients

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

Method

1. Pat the chicken thighs properly dry with kitchen paper — water on the skin means steam, and steam means no crackle. 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. Burnt garlic turns the whole pot bitter and you can't claw it back.
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. That fond is where the flavour lives — leave it stuck and you've wasted the sear.
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.
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. Taste the braising liquid one last time and adjust the salt now, in the pan, not at the table.
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 and torn sourdough to mop the juices.