As I am sure is the case with most home cooks – I LOVE one tray or one pot cooking. The ease of throwing everything together, bunging it into the oven or on top of the stove and letting it look after itself for a while is wonderful! Not to mention cutting down the washing time (we have no dishwasher in our new apartment…and I feel as though I’m doing the dishes all day long!)

I came across this Chicken, Lemon and Oregano recipe from Bon Appetite, and I immediately loved the flavour combinations as it sounded so fresh and sharp. However, when I read the directions I was put off, it all seemed a bit ‘faffy’ and there were too many steps.

Roasting chicken legs is something that C and I have perfected – as it has become our standard mid-week meal! And we have discovered that, the best way to roast chicken legs and get that lovely crispy skin is just leaving them in the oven!

So I took to the internet yet again in search for some inspiration and found a very simple recipe from BBC Good Food (click here for the original recipe). I changed it around a bit to suit what I had at home and I have to say I am really impressed with the outcome. The chicken thigh and drumsticks were incredibly moist, the skin with nice and crispy and the lemon flavour really shone through but did not overpower.

We both loved this dish and it is the sort of dish that I would serve my guests with no hesitation for a casual dinner party.

What you need (4 portions)

• Olive oil
• 4 large chicken legs (Cut into thigh and drumstick)
• 1-2 tblsp of dried herb of your choosing (I used a French Provence herb mix)
• 2 yellow onions cut into wedges (or you can use whole shallots)
• 100g smoked bacon, cut into wide strips
• 3-4 large whole garlic cloves, skins removed
• Large knob of ginger (roughly the size of two thumbs), Cut into small pieces (don’t bother removing the skin, you will throw these out at the end)
• 5 sprigs of fresh oregano
• 1 lemon sliced into wedges (8 wedges in total)
• Salt & Pepper
• 100 ml beer (I used Stella Artois)
• 200 ml of chicken stock

What you do:

Pre-heat your oven to 220°C (430°F)

Pour 1 tbsp olive oil into a baking tray, and pop it into the hot oven for 8 minutes. The oil should be almost smoking when you take it out.

In the meantime place your chicken thighs and drumsticks into a mixing bowl, pour about 1 tblsp of oil over the chicken, add the dried herbs, salt and pepper and mix well.

Once the baking tray is hot, place the chicken skin-up on the baking try. Scatter the onion wedges, bacon strips, garlic cloves, ginger, sprigs of fresh oregano and the lemon wedges (apart from one) evenly onto the tray.

With the remaining wedge squeeze the lemon over the entire tray. Then put the baking tray into the oven for 20 minutes.

Pour in the chicken stock and beer and return to the oven for a further 25 minutes or until cooked through.

Once the chicken is cooked through, turn on the oven grill (or broiler if your Northern American) and grill for about 5 minutes, or until you see the skin is golden brown and crispy!

Plate up the chicken (but remember to discard the ginger) and serve with your favourite vegetables! We used roasted cauliflower, but this would go really well with roasted potatoes too!