Chicken Rigonato
Ingredients
Prepare the Sauce
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Preheat the oven to 375*
If using dried oregano, place the salt and the oregano into a mortar and pestle and grind the two ingredients until the oregano is fine, but not a powder. Combine the lemon juice, minced garlic, olive oil, pepper and salt and oregano mixture in a bowl--a 4-cup measuring cup actually works really well for this purpose. Give the ingredients a good mix and set aside.
Cut potatoes into approximately 1" cubes. In a pinch, I'll use any kind of potatoes I have on hand for this recipe, but I find that Yukon Gold hold up best for this recipe, given the baking time. Russets are fine in this recipe, but they tend to fall apart.
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Prep the chicken
Dip chicken thighs on both sides, making sure to really get some of the garlic to cling to both sides of the chicken thighs and place them in a large casserole dish (mine is 10" x 13" x 2.5"), skin-side down. Place the potatoes alongside the chicken thighs. Add about 1/2 cup water to the remaining marinade and pour over the whole dish. Dot with a little butter (this does taste good, but is totally optional!)
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Bake the chicken
Bake chicken for about 20 minutes and then turn the chicken over so that the chicken is skin-side up. This will allow the chicken skin to get nice and crispy and brown. Bake for another 35-40 minutes, until chicken is done.
This yummy, rustic chicken recipe is a long-time family favorite, and I still make it to this day. It was passed on to my mom by one of my dad’s graduate students back when I was in junior high. Cathy was a very talented Greek woman and was the first to bring fresh oregano to my mom, living in Texas. I believe the oregano was even sent to Cathy by her mother who still lived in Greece. My mom reverently showed the stalks of oregano to all of us and I can still remember how they smelled and how exotic they seemed at the time! How we marveled at those stalks! Of course, this recipe is delightful with fresh oregano, but it is also really good with dried oregano, which is what I usually have on hand on an average Tuesday night when I decide I want to make this easy, delicious and thoroughly comforting dish.
