VILLAGE PASTA WITH CHICKEN AND LEMON

This is the kind of weeknight meal that makes everyone at my place go quiet. No bickering or yelling, any fractious 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 have – spinach, kale and broccoli all work well. Just make sure that you’re not shy with the halloumi – more is more.

SERVES 4

H olive oil

H sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

H 6 chicken thighs, skin on and bone in

H 1 tsp dried oregano

H 3 garlic cloves

H 400g swiss chard

H 100g halloumi or salted anari, or more, to taste

H 1.4 litres chicken stock

H 250g greek or cypriot village pasta (you can use regular or gluten-free macaroni if needed)

H 1 lemon

H 1 tbsp dried mint

1 Preheat your oven to 200C/ 180C fan/gas 6. Put a wide, deep flameproof casserole on a medium heat and drizzle in enough olive oil to just cover the base. Season the chicken well, especially the skin, sprinkle with the dried oregano and place in the casserole skin-side down. Fry for about 10 minutes, until golden-brown, then flip over and fry for a further 10 minutes. 2 While the chicken is cooking, peel and finely slice the garlic. Trim the chard and shred it – stalks and all. Coarsely grate the halloumi or anari and set aside. When the chicken is golden, remove from the casserole and set aside on a plate. Add the garlic to the casserole and fry in the remaining oil for a couple of minutes. Add the chard and stock and bring to the boil. Stir in the pasta, bring back to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Squeeze in the juice of the lemon and stir in half of the dried mint.

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