Roast Lemon Chicken With Green Olives

This is a wonderfully flavoursome dish that I cooked on one of those chilly spring night. It is dead easy to prepare and it is certainly a recipe to keep. The original recipe asked for skinless, boneless thigh fillets but I used a whole chicken instead. It has been hot and humid here in Melbourne but I am sure this will be perfect for my friends living in the northern hemisphere.
P.S A great dish if you are entertaining but don't feel like spending too much time shopping and cooking.

recipe adapted from Delicious Magazine by Belinda Jeffery
Pre-heated oven at 180 C
serves 4 with a side salad
you'll need;
1 whole chicken, cut into 10 pieces
3 onions, sliced
2 lemon, cut into 20 thin slices and reserve the rest
sprigs of thyme
150 g of split green olives
3/4 cup of chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
flour for dusting
extra virgin olive oil

Dust chicken pieces with flour then brown in batches, set aside.

Saute onion and some thyme leaves with generous amount of olive oil til soft and lightly coloured, set aside.

Lemon slices and split green olives.

Distribute onion on the base of a baking pan, arrange chicken pieces on top. Place 2 slices of lemon on each piece of chicken, add a few more sprigs of thyme and season well. Pour chicken stock over, squeeze the rest of the lemon all over  and bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Add olives during the last 10 minutes of cooking. I hope someone with give this a try too.

I served a side dish of roasted potato with garlic and rosemary and....

a simple saute green beans.