Mediterranean Lemon Chicken with Leeks & Artichokes

This recipe is inspired by Nancy Fuller from Farmhouse Rules. I saw her cook this dish on the Food Network and it looked so tasty that I had to try it! I can never leave a recipe alone, so I added a few of my favorite ingredients in addition to Nancy's original recipe, which you can find here. She roasts an entire chicken, but I chose to simplify it by using drumsticks. 

I also marinated my chicken for two hours with about 1/3 cup lemon juice, 6 crushed garlic cloves, salt, pepper, rosemary and water. This added lots of great flavor! But if you don't have time to marinate, you can totally skip that step. The result is still a light yet highly satisfying meal that is crazy delicious. Here's my version; I hope you enjoy! (This made enough for Scott and I to eat dinner and both have leftovers for lunch!)

Ingredients

• 5 large chicken drumsticks
• salt and pepper
• olive oil or butter
• 3 shallots, diced
• 2 leeks, rinsed well and diced (discard the hard fibrous tops)
• 1 package mushrooms, sliced
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained
• 7 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small bunch fresh sage, minced
• 1 small bunch fresh thyme, minced
• 1 small bunch rosemary, minced
• 1 handful dried oregano
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 lemon, sliced 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pat the chicken dry and season liberally with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil or butter in a large flat-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, sear the all the chicken on both sides. This should take about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove from the heat and set aside on a plate.

In the same skillet, reduce the heat to medium. Add more oil or butter if necessary, along with the shallots, leeks, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and garlic and cook until soft and fragrant, about 15 minutes.

Next, add all the herbs to the pan. Let cook for a minute or so, then add the wine and chicken stock. Let this cook down for about 5 minutes.

Add the browned chicken back into the pan, nestling it into the sauce. Top the chicken with the lemon slices. Move the pan to the preheated oven and roast for 45 minutes. 

Serve up and enjoy! (This is especially yummy over rice!) Thank you so much for reading! 

Until next time,

xoxo