Sunday supper: Village Pasta With Chicken and Lemon

Serves 4.

From “Greekish” by Georgina Hayden, who writes: “This is the kind of weeknight meal that makes everyone at my place go quiet. No bickering or yelling, any fractious end-of-long-day moods forgotten, just the sounds of happy munching. Golden, crunchy chicken skin is always appreciated, and the combination of lemon and halloumi makes it fresh, salty-addictive and comforting all at once. If you don’t have chard, use whatever greens you do — spinach, kale, broccoli all work. Just make sure you’re not shy with the halloumi — more is more.” (Bloomsbury, 2024)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a wide, deep flameproof casserole on a medium heat and drizzle in enough olive oil to just cover the base. Season the chicken thighs well, especially the skin, sprinkle with the dried oregano and place in the casserole skin-side down. Fry for about 10 minutes, until the skin is golden-brown, then flip over and fry for another 10 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, peel and finely slice the garlic. Trim the chard and shred it — stalks and all. Coarsely grate the halloumi and set aside. When the chicken is golden, remove and leave on a plate to one side. Add the garlic to the casserole and fry in the remaining oil for a couple of minutes. Add the chard and stock to the pan and bring to a boil. Stir in the pasta, bring back to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Squeeze in the juice of the lemon and stir in half of the dried mint.

Place the chicken thighs back in the pan, skin-side up, so they sit in the pasta and place the pan in the oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until most of the liquid has been absorbed, the pasta is tender and the chicken is cooked and has golden-brown skin. Before serving the chicken and pasta, stir most of the grated halloumi through the pasta, and scatter the rest on top with the remaining dried mint.