Chicken - Lemon and Butter

I wish that were my photo, but it isn't. Actually, my thighs were browner and there were no spinach leaves - Beloved Husband doesn't like them, so it just didn't happen. But, we will do these again before to long and I will replace the photo (screen printed from the Lemon Butter Chicken on the original site) with my own. This recipe is that good!

However good the original recipe might be, we made some changes - as stated above, partly for Beloved Husband. I might mention here that Younger Sister has moved in with us and that is a wonderful change. It is so nice to know she's no longer living alone, no longer driving as much, no longer a day's drive away in an emergency, and definitely now RETIRED! Those are nice, but she's a good cook, ready to try new recipes. She has some and we have some, so we're trading off on making something that's new to each other. Thus, my turn one night was the marvelous Lemon Butter Chicken.

I had found it some time ago - but I wasn't blogging then, not even on my Bible Reading blog! As for here, we had gotten in a rut, our 42 group had to disband a few years back, and cooking was a necessity, not a pleasure. But, every once in a while I'd run across a new recipe, try it and save it to Pepperplate.  Now I'm going to share some of those here.

Ingredients:
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (we had only 4 in a package, for two people)
1 tablespoon smoked paprika (David doesn't like, so we missed out on the Smokey flavor)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken broth (substituted vegetable broth)
1/2 cup heavy cream (substituted milk & butter)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups baby spinach, chopped (optional - for BH a game ender)

See? I never can stick to a specific recipe - and I imagine a lot of people are the same. When I made it last week, it was for three people, I snuck in the paprika but left out the thyme, did have chicken broth and heavy cream. So a small change or two isn't bad. Yes, we had more sauce, but it was good over noodles. So, let's put it together:

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Season chicken thighs with paprika, salt and pepper, to taste.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side; drain excess fat and set aside.
Melt remaining tablespoon butter in the skillet. Add garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, heavy cream, Parmesan, lemon juice and thyme.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat, stir in spinach, and simmer until the spinach has wilted and the sauce has slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet.
Place into oven and roast until completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 25-30 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Don't brown that garlic - it will change the flavor. I added some lemon zest to the fresh lemon juice, and totally forgot the thyme! I did mix the broth, cream, Parmesan, and lemon in a measuring cup and poured it over the chicken - which could be why the skin was browner, but that was a winner. It was a treat all on it's own! The chicken was so tender and the flavor so good that we all three decided this recipe was a keeper and would be done again, soon.

Served it with roasted potato slices and corn off the cob (only because we had whole kernel canned - it would be great with corn on the cob for that extra sweetness. Please leave a note if you try the recipe.