Lemon Chicken with Green Beans and Potatoes

Here's a wee chicken dinner that was perfect to throw together for a Monday night. Simple ingredients, minimal preparation, and on your table in around half an hour. What's not to love?!?!

I always have packs of chicken thighs in my freezer, though I sometimes lack the inspiration to make something interesting with them. My default is my chicken with sherry and bacon which is utterly delicious but packed full of butter and bacon so not particularly healthy!!

The recipe serves 4 people, but I think that was a little off. I only had 3 chicken thighs but I left the quantities of the rest of the ingredients the same as you can never have too much sauce and veggies! I would definitely add a lot more green beans next time or maybe a second vegetable to balance the dish out. 

Anyhoo, here's what I used ...

• 12 oz baby red potatoes, halved
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 bone in, skin on chicken thighs
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 5 tsp all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups chicken stock
• 8 thin slices of lemon
• 8 oz trimmed green beans
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Boil potatoes in a medium pot of salted water until tender, around 12 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. Heat a large oven proof skillet over a medium high heat and add 1 tsp of olive oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper then add to the pan, skin side down, along with the thyme sprigs. Cook until skin in brown, around 5 minutes, then turn the chicken over. 
4. Move pan to the oven and bake until chicken is cooked through, around 10 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
5. Return skillet to medium high heat and add remaining 2 tsp of olive oil. Add the potatoes, cut sides down, along with the chopped thyme and cook for 3 minutes, stirring once.
6. Whisk together the milk and flour in a small bowl. Add to the pan along with the stock, lemon slices and green beans then season. Simmer for 1 minute until sauce starts to thicken, then add the chicken, cover and simmer for another 3 minutes, or until the beans are cooked to your liking.
7. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve!

I love the clean taste of lemon to accompany chicken and this milky sauce had a lovely delicate flavor. I might consider upping the lemon quantity next time, and my testers last night both agreed that some capers would add an interesting layer to the sauce. 

The only other thing I would change is to either smash the potatoes up a bit or serve with some crusty bread to soak up more of the yummy sauce.

I hope you enjoy!