Mary Berry's Lemon Chicken with chives

This is clearly not a photo of my food tonight, I have resorted to using the one from the website. It was a lovely meal but my photo didn't look particularly appetising. My chicken wasn't browned like the chicken above, I assume that's had a little extra browning after cooking for a more attractive food shot. I would make it again, we all really enjoyed it, although I couldn't get a hold of fresh chives, so I used dried, which didn't have that lovely strong flavour. I substituted the full fat Creme fraiche for half fat in attempt to reduce the calories.

SERVES 4

Ingredients 

25g (1oz) butter

8 chicken thighs, skinned, bone in

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 large onion, roughly chopped

25g (1oz) flour

300ml (½ pint) hot chicken stock

finely grated rind and juice of 2 lemons

4 tbsp full-fat crème fraîche

3 tbsp snipped fresh chives

Method

● Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a high heat, add the thighs and brown all over until golden. Season with salt and pepper and then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

● Add the onion to the pan and fry for 3 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour, add the hot stock and bring to the boil, stirring all the time.

● Add the rind and juice of the lemons, and return the thighs to the pan. Season again and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer over a low heat for about 35-45 minutes, or until the thighs are tender.

● Stir in the crème fraîche and nearly all the chives.

● Serve with mashed potato or rice and sprinkle over the remaining chives.

TO PREPARE AHEAD

Can be made up to a day ahead and reheated on the hob – add the crème fraîche and chives when reheating. Freezes well.