♪♪ [Sharon Profis] Today, we're making a one pot meal.

We're making Lemon Couscous Chicken.

It is a Greek style dish with lots of bold flavors, and it all happens in just one pot.

So, let's get started by searing off our chicken.

I have six chicken thighs and we'll very liberally season these with salt and pepper.

I have a braising dish over medium heat and the first step here is to get some color on the skin, which will also render out some of the fat from that chicken.

And that fat will then become the base of our couscous.

One and a half tablespoons of olive oil.

Once the oil gets a little shiny we'll add our chicken thighs.

Once these are golden-brown on one side, I'll flip them over, get a little color on the bottom, then we'll do it again with the second batch.

It's a good time to season the other side as well.

Our last three pieces of chicken are done, so let's take them out.

Now, we'll lower the heat.

A lot of fat came out of these chicken thighs, so I'm going to pour off a little bit.

I want a tablespoon leftover, not quite this much.

And now, let's make our couscous base.

First, we'll do a tablespoon of unsalted butter.

Now, to this goes the yellow onion.

I just did a dice here.

As these cook, they'll start to pick up some of those brown bits from the chicken.

In the meantime, I'll slice five cloves of garlic.

Let's add our garlic right in there, and I'll season with a little salt and some pepper.

Now, let's add one and a half cups of pearl or Israeli couscous.

There are two types of couscous.

You have that very fine couscous that you probably run into most often.

And then, there's pearl, also known as Israeli couscous.

At the end of the day, this is really just a type of pasta.

It's made very, very similar to pasta.

But it's also often cooked with a lot of other ingredients- in this case, onions, garlic, and a few other things we'll add.

It just is a great base to take on any flavor and I'm going to toss it in and give it a little bit of a toast.

And while our couscous toasts, let's get some of our herbs ready.

So, I have some fresh oregano here.

I mentioned this is a bit of a Greek style dish.

Oregano is a popular ingredient in Greek food.

That ends up being about five or six sprigs of oregano.

And then, I also have thyme.

Give this a bit of a rough chop.

These are starting to take on a light golden-brown color.

Now, we'll throw in our herbs.

I'm also adding two teaspoons of paprika for a little bit of that sweet pepper flavor and also color.

I thought this dish needed a little bit of a vegetable.

So, today, I'm adding some Lacinato or Dinosaur kale to this dish.

I'll use about a quarter of a bunch of kale here.

Spinach is also a great substitute.

You could also use baby kale.

I've done this with broccoli.

I've done it with cauliflower.

In this step where we're adding vegetables, it's whatever you like and maybe whatever you have on hand.

Now is also a good time to add one of our star ingredients here.

We'll do the juice of two lemons, makes this dish so bright and a really nice balance to chicken thighs, which are definitely a fattier piece of meat.

A little more pepper.

And finally, for some sweetness, I'm adding a quarter cup of raisins.

Combine all of this.

I mentioned that pearl couscous is a lot like pasta, so we're going to need to add a liquid.

I'll add two cups of chicken stock.

You can also use veggie stock or even water in a pinch.

Do one last scrape of the bottom of the pan to make sure no other yummy flavors are stuck there.

OK, last couple steps.

We'll add our chicken back to the pot, nestle them in.

And last but not least, while this comes to a simmer, I have a couple ounces of feta cheese here and I'm just going to cube it.

This is a sheep's milk feta cheese.

So, I just put these cubes of feta all around.

These are going to cook gently and melt right into the dish.

And then, just to make sure we have a lot of that lemony flavor, I'm slicing up about half a lemon and this lemon will go right on top.

This is now going into the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until the couscous has absorbed more of that liquid, the chicken is cooked through, and then it's ready to serve.

Our one pot Lemon Couscous Chicken is done.

The couscous has plumped up.

It absorbed all those juices.

The feta cheese is so nice and melty.

Depending on your oven, in some cases, the bottom of this dish will start to get a little crispy.

That is the stuff that my family fights over.

This dish is so simple to make, as you saw.

It's a great weeknight meal.

It would also make a beautiful centerpiece for when you have guests over.

Now, all that's left to do is eat!

♪♪