I Feel Like Chicken Tonight! - Lemon herb chicken

The 'One pot' dish is the busy family's saviour! Picture this.....you have arrived home from a busy day at work, you've done the school runs or whatever and all you want to do is soak in the bath........the last thing you want now is to start preparing lots of different things to feed the family........sound familiar?.......but stop! don't reach for that frozen ready meal...... the 'one pot dish' is here to save the day!

There are many different things that can be cooked in the one pot (it's really more of a casserole pot I suppose) but chicken is the easiest, and probably the fastest as you can cook it without wasting time on browning the meat like you would do if you were cooking beef, pork or lamb......also the cooking time is much shorter........ enough time for that bath!

There's something about lemon and chicken, they are two flavours that go so well together and the slow cooking of this dish gives the carrots and garlic a delicious sweetness....a great combination with the tartness of the lemon.
I never bother to thicken the lovely broth you get when the dish is finished cooking, you can if you really want to but we're talking about saving time here, so why bother?

You can use an actual whole oven ready chicken for this dish which will of course take slightly longer to cook, or you can use chicken thighs on their own, or with their legs attached......either way, buying ready portioned chicken helps speed things up for you!

you will need: to feed 4 people

500 g chicken thighs (approx 1 big thigh with the leg per person)

1 large lemon or 2 small ones

3 large cloves of garlic...I like to use the ones that are the size of chestnuts!

3 sprigs of fresh rosemary

1 medium white onion

1 glass dry white wine (optional)

400 g peeled carrots

2 pints cold water

sea salt / fresh black pepper

how to:

• cut carrots into nice thick sticks and place in the casserole pot
• peel the onion and slice into thick rings and place on top of the carrots
• trim any excess skin or fat from the chicken thighs and add them to the pot
• wash the lemon and grate the zest over the top of the chicken
• now slice the lemon into about 7 or 8 slices and add to the pot
• peel and cut the garlic into thick slices and add to the pot
• pour the wine over the chicken, add the cold water, season with salt and pepper and add the sprigs of rosemary, cover with a tight fitting lid
• turn on the oven to 160 degrees.......while the oven is heating go and fill the bath!
• when the bath is filled, place the pot in the oven, pour another glass of white wine and head for the tub
• let the chicken cook for 30 minutes while you unwind........
• after 30 minutes turn the oven up to 200, remove the lid from the pot so the chicken can brown while you dry your hair/set the table or whatever you need to do......the chicken may take about 15 minutes to brown
• remove the pot from the oven, pick out the rosemary sprigs and slices of lemon and dispose of, serve the chicken and vegetables along with some of the broth in deep bowls, enjoy with some floury boiled potatoes on the side if you can be bothered to cook any, or just have some lovely crusty chunks of bread to dip into the broth, I recommend a nice chewy sour-dough or ciabatta!