This post is part of fellow book blogger, Beth Fish Reads‘, weekly meme (a “community” blog post, for all those non-bloggers out there) called Weekend Cooking.

I’m always on the lookout for new things to do with chicken…especially skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts (they have so much more flavor than boneless, skinless ones). I used to make this recipe a lot before I had my daughter and had sort of forgotten about it until recently. I rediscovered it last week and it proved to be an easy, one skillet weeknight dinner. The potatoes and mushrooms soak up all the delicious chicken juices in the bottom of the pan and the roasted lemon adds a nice pop.

Tyler Florence’s Skillet Rosemary Chicken
Link to the recipe

Ingredients
3/4 pound small red-skinned potatoes, halved, or quartered if large (I sometimes leave these out and add more mushrooms)
Kosher salt
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus 1 tablespoon leaves
1 clove garlic, smashed
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Juice of 2 lemons (squeezed halves reserved)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts (6 to 8 ounces each)
10 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved
Note: I usually make this for 2 people using 2 chicken breasts and have trouble fitting everything in one cast iron skillet, so I would imagine 4 chicken breasts probably wouldn’t work in one skillet.

Directions
Preheat the oven to 450. Cover the potatoes with cold water in a saucepan and salt the water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until tender, about 8 minutes; drain and set aside.

Pile the rosemary leaves, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt and the red pepper flakes on a cutting board, then mince and mash into a paste using a large knife. Transfer the paste to a bowl. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon and the olive oil. Add the chicken and turn to coat. I recommend letting the chicken breasts marinate for an hour or two.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down, cover and cook until the skin browns, about 5 minutes. Turn the chicken; add the mushrooms and potatoes to the skillet and drizzle with the juice of the remaining lemon. I also recommend adding salt and pepper to the potatoes and mushrooms at this point.

Add the rosemary sprigs and the squeezed lemon halves to the skillet; transfer to the oven and roast, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.