[upbeat music] - Boy, do I love a good one-pan chicken dinner when I want something delicious and quick.

You're gonna be amazed how golden this turns out.

[upbeat music continues] I just put a little slick of olive oil in this pan and I'm gonna add some chicken thighs.

Now, I salted them last night, because that overnight rest with salt really crisps up that skin, and then I'm gonna with a little pepper, I'm gonna put these skin side down in my skillet.

So, let me put 'em in the pan spaced out evenly, so they don't crowd [food crackling] and I'm gonna let these guys cook until that skin is perfectly golden and you know the best way to do that?

Just walk away.

[gentle upbeat music] [gentle upbeat music continues] Let me check these.

Oh my goodness.

They are gorgeous.

They're crispy, they're golden.

They're already smelling delicious.

Now, I'm gonna finish cooking these in the oven, because that'll give you a more moist chicken and before I pop 'em in the oven, I am just dropping in some nice big sprigs of rosemary and some big beautiful strips of lemon zest.

That's going to season the chicken while it finishes in the oven and while it is in the oven, I'm gonna use that time to get my gorgeous figs ready and some other good stuff, too.

[gentle upbeat music continues] [upbeat music] Let me see.

Oh my goodness.

Yes.

This is gorgeous.

The chicken has cooked through, the rosemary and the lemon have added their flavor, and now, I'm going to build my pan sauce and to do that, I'm gonna lift the chicken out of the pan and let it hang out while I add my other things.

I'm also going to lift out the rosemary and the lemon at this point, because it's given up all the flavor it's going to have.

Now, I'm gonna put this over here and while that chicken was cooking, I cut up some shallots and I cut up our gorgeous fresh figs.

So, the first thing I'm gonna do is I'm going to add these shallots to the pan and let them start cooking.

I'm gonna put in just a little bit of salt, because salt will help them release their moisture and start getting tender and I'm gonna start stirring up from the bottom and letting all that gorgeous brown deliciousness start joining the pan sauce.

So, now that these are nice and sizzly, I'm going to add some brown sugar.

This is gonna be part of the flavor of the sauce, but it's also going to help these shallots turn a gorgeous golden color.

That was a couple of tablespoons.

So, let me stir this until this sugar dissolves, and then in preparation for those figs, I'm gonna do a step called deglazing and all that means is to take a little bit of a liquid and in this case, I'm using a beautiful dry sherry [food sizzling] and what that sizzling is doing is loosening even more of that gorgeous flavor from the bottom of the pan, but its real job here is to help loosen these drippings, so that we don't miss a delicious drop [upbeat music comes to a stop] and now, it is time to add these gorgeous figs.

Now, the idea is I want these to warm through, but I don't want them to break down.

I want to be able to see pieces of fig and I'm also going to add just a little splash of sherry vinegar to match the sherry we used for deglazing.

That vinegar is gonna mix with that brown sugar and make this delicious sweet and sour flavor combination.

So, I'm gonna let these hang out just a minute until they start to soften a little bit and while that happens, I'm gonna add a pinch of red pepper flakes and I'm gonna give it a quick stir and we are almost done.

Now, the last ingredient is going to be some delicious, ripe high quality green olives.

These are not your martini olives.

These are a beautiful, fruity, briny, buttery olive that's gonna give you a little bit of salt and a little bit of character to this beautiful sauce.

This is a built pan sauce, but the last thing I'm going to do is I'm going to return my chicken to the pan.

It's still hot, 'cause it's just been over here for a little bit, but I want it to have a little bit of time in the pan to absorb some of these flavors.

Put that back in there, maybe a couple of minutes and there we go.

Now, remember how I put the rosemary in when I put the chicken in to roast?

I saved a little bit of fresh rosemary and I'm gonna sprinkle that over the top.

Those little things about knowing when to add flavor all add up to an amazing chicken dish.

Now, I love making this in a pan that I can take straight to the table, but this can hang out for a while on those days when not everybody gets home at the same time.

It is just as good room temperature as it is now, which is another reason I love a good one-pan chicken dinner and when you add figs, well, it's as good as it gets.

[gentle music]