this was my first attempt at a “real” meal (as opposed to something easy, like pizza or pasta, which is my standard go-to.) also, i’ve never made chicken before, other than to throw it in a frying pan and hope it comes out halfway decent. (i’ve never grilled anything before either, so… that should make an appearance this summer too…)
anyway, i found this surprisingly easy recipe on pinterest (duh) and thought i’d have a go at it. i bought chicken thighs, bone in, like the girl who posted the original recipe did, and found a goat milk greek yogurt at trader joe’s for the marinade.
what you need:
1 cup yogurt
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves chopped garlic, or a few scoops of the minced garlic from the store
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1 lemon
pinch of salt
a couple of grinds of fresh black pepper
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
bone-in chicken (i bought three, we each had one.)
what you do:
mix together yogurt, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper and parsley. zest your lemon with either a zester or a small cheese grater and add the zest, then squeeze the lemon into the marinade, for a little citrus kick. mix it all together. put your chicken pieces into a large ziploc bag and pour the marinade over them (careful, it can be messy.) close the bag, with not that much air in there, and knead it a little bit to get the marinade over all the chicken. set in the fridge for 30-45 minutes. i tried it for 30, since i got started a little bit late.
preheat your oven to 375 degrees. (the main recipe says you can use a grill but since we’ve already determined that that happens to be a little above my level of expertise… well… oven it was. i suppose maybe a cast iron pan would work, maybe to cook them quickly and then broil them to get a crispness to the skin.. but as they say, hindsight is 20/20.)
i set mine into a glass baking dish and let them go. like beth, i too poured the extra marinade over the top, which was a mistake. they just bubbled and i was never sure when they were done since they didn’t crisp.
i also picked up some fresh asparagus. i put it in another baking dish with sliced lemon, olive oil, orange and lemon pepper, ground, and some crushed red pepper. i stuck this in the oven about fiftenn minutes after the chicken, and we were set to go.
wine pairing:
a crisp sauvignon blanc, perfect for summer, offsets the creamy marinade and doesn’t overpower the seasonings.