Lemon and Thyme Baked Chicken Recipe

This is a great simple recipe with clean flavors that complement, but don’t overshadow, the taste of good chicken. This recipe, which is a variation on Joel Robuchon’s ‘Poulet aux Citrons’, is best used to highlight a good quality chicken with a little taste – free range is good, kosher chickens are also good. You can make this with a standard supermarket broiler, but the results just won’t be the same.

Although this will take an hour or so to make, most of that time is not active cooking time, and so really, this chicken can be made in a only a few minutes of attentive cooking. This is a great weekend evening family supper after a busy day on the go – easy enough to not stress anyone out, but tasty enough to satisfy everyone at the table!

Lemon Thyme Chicken

• One 3 pound chicken, cut into quarters
• ¼ cup, extra virgin olive oil
• 1 and ½ tsps dried thyme or 1 Tbls fresh thyme
• 2 lemons, cut into thin slices
• Salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper

1. Cut the chicken into quarters (If you don’t know how to do this, look here)
2. Sprinkle salt, thyme and freshly cracked black pepper all over the chicken pieces and then rub with the lemon slices and then lay the lemon slices over the chicken. Drizzle the olive oil over the chicken pieces to coat, and then let this sit in the fridge for about an hour (You can leave this for several hours in the fridge at this point, if this fits your schedule better.
   
   
3. A few minutes before you’re ready to start cooking (the cooking time will be about half an hour) preheat the oven to 425.
4. Arrange the chicken pieces on a baking tray or in a roasting pan and then transfer to the oven
5. Let the chicken cook for about 15 minutes, and then turn the chicken over and let it cook for about 10 more minutes. Use an instant read thermometer to see if it has reached 160 at this point (it should have) or cut deeply into the thigh to see if there are any remaining traces of pink. Cook for a few minutes longer, if necessary.

This easy chicken dish is great alongside boiled new potatoes and glazed carrots or some nice spring asparagus, a glass of wine and some good crusty bread …or a million other things, for that matter!