I've come to really like skin-on chicken thighs for roasting or sautéeing. I adapted this recipe from one I found on Fine Cooking magazine's web site, by Joanne Smart. It turns out quite yummy. I upped the ingredients for the sauce and the vegetables.
Roast Chicken Thighs with Potatoes, Artichokes & Lemon
¼ cup plus 3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, more for the baking sheet
2 very large bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed of excess skin and fat
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
10- to 12-oz package frozen artichoke hearts or 14-oz can artichoke hearts
1 large lemon
¾ lb small potatoes, such as fingerling or baby Yukon golds, those over 2 inches cut in half
4 small sprigs fresh thyme
3 medium-sized onions sliced very thick
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 450°F.
Lightly oil a heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet. Put the chicken thighs on the baking sheet with plenty of room in between them. Season well with salt and pepper and roast in the hot oven for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, if using frozen artichokes, remove them from their package and rinse them in a colander under warm water to separate them and to begin to thaw them. (It's fine if they're still partially frozen when you roast them.) If using canned artichokes, just remove them from the can. Drain them well.
Thinly slice ¾ of the lemon and juice the other quarter. Measure 4 tsp of the juice into a small bowl and whisk in 3 Tbsp of the olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Save any remaining juice for another use.
Put the artichokes in a large bowl with the potatoes, thyme sprigs, lemon slices, onion slices, the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 tsp. of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Toss to coat well. Try to keep the onion slices whole.
When the thighs have roasted for 15 minutes, take the baking sheet out of the oven. Dump the artichokes, potatoes, lemon slices and onion slices onto the baking sheet in the empty spots surrounding the thighs. Try to distribute things more or less evenly and in a single layer so the vegetable get nicely browned. Keep the lemon slices toward the center of the pan so they don't burn.
Continue roasting until the chicken skin is crisp, the meat cooked through, and the artichokes, potatoes and onions are tender and browned, another 30 to 40 minutes.
Divide the thighs and the vegetables between two plates. Drizzle each serving with the lemon vinaigrette.
2 servings
. The original recipe called for 1 lemon for 4 people, and you sliced half and juiced half, and only used 4 tsp of the juice. When I cut the recipe down for 2 people (mostly just cutting down from 4 to 2 thighs and from 1 to ¾ lb of potatoes), I used one lemon and found I had too much juice and not enough slices for my taste (not to mention that the two slices that weren't in the centre of the pan did get burnt). The next time I squeezed the half [thin-skinned] lemon until I got enough juice, and then was still able to get more slices out of the squeezed half. I'd try a large lemon and maybe squeeze a third and slice two thirds.