Oregano Chicken... for when you want to be fancy shmancy!

Source

Winner winner! This is an uh-mazing chicken dinner!

I consider this meal a major accomplishment because

1. I cut up a whole, raw chicken for the very first time (thanks youtube!)
2. I used fresh oregano that I grew myself on our deck
3. I got the "hungry man seal of approval" from my husband and one of his friends. I think the exact words were "this is better than 'not bad'". haha

I'm thinking this is for sure something I will make for guests, because it looks fancy but is so easy! And it's not labor-intensive at all. Once you brown the chicken, you get to throw it in the oven for 45 minutes and get some other things around the house done (or prepare the rest of your meal).

I didn't get an official "finished" picture, but you'll get the gist. I served mine with orzo and some steamed broccoli, but I think next time I'm going to have to make mashed potatoes. It just seems natural...

You can check out the blog where I found the recipe HERE. She is a great writer and all of her food looks delicious.


Oregano Chicken
Recipe from this site

• Mix of bone-in chicken pieces (I used a whole chicken that I cut up, so I had two wings, two thighs, two legs, and four breast sections)
• salt
• black pepper
• 3/4 cup flour
• olive oil (enough to brown chicken)
• 1 cup dry white wine (I used 1.5 cups because I was using up the last of a bottle)
• 4 springs of oregano, leave removed from stems and stems discarded (I used Greek oregano from my herb "garden". It's different from what she used, but it worked out just fine!)
• 3 bay leaves
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 1/2 cups of water

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour (covering completely) and shake off excess.

3. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. This needs to be a pan that you can put in your oven. I used my cast iron dutch oven. Gosh I love that thing...

4. Put your chicken in the pan, skin side down, and brown for five minutes or so, until just the outside gets nice and brown. Flip pieces to other side and cook for another five minutes. I did half of the chicken first, and then set that meat aside on my pretty little lemon cutting board while I browned the other half of the meat.

5. Being very careful, slowly pour in the white wine. Add oregano and bay leaves. Allow liquid to reduce for about two minutes, then add water. Put the lid on your pot and put it in the oven for 45 minutes.

6. After 45 minutes, take off the lid and give the pot another 5 minutes or so in the oven.

7. Remove chicken from the pot, place on a plate/platter, and "tent" with foil. Add lemon juice to the yummy liquid in the pot and remove the bay leaves.

Done! Pour the "au jus" into a bowl and let people ladle some of it over their chicken/rice/potatoes/pasta/ hand. Just kidding about the hand part. Sort of. It's delicious!

The chicken is so moist and the sauce is so flavorful. I imagine you could do this with whole bone-in chicken breasts if you wanted, you would probably just need to adjust the time in the oven. I want to make this again very soon!!


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