Ultimate roast potatoes with pan-roasted chicken thighs and garlic greens
Create the perfect roasties with this simple step-by-step guide that will be the hero element of the Sunday dinner table.
Ingredients
For the garlic greens
- 1 head garlic, top cut off
- 2 tbsp olive oil, for drizzling and frying
- 200g/7oz Tenderstem broccoli
- 200g/7oz green beans, trimmed
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 25g/1oz Parmesan, finely grated, to serve
For the potatoes
- 4–6 large Maris Piper potatoes (about 500g/1lb 2oz–700g/1lb 9oz), peeled and cut into equal chunks
- 1 chicken or vegetable stock cube
- ½ head garlic
- ½ onion, quartered
- 2 sprigs both thyme and rosemary
- 1 lemon, zest only
- 100g/3½oz duck fat or dripping
- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tsp garlic granules
- 1 tsp onion granules
- salt
For the chicken
- 1 tsp garlic pepper
- 1 tsp onion salt
- 1 tbsp dried mixed herbs
- 8 chicken thighs, skin on and boneless
- olive oil, for drizzling
For the caper sauce
- 50g/1¾oz salted butter, cut into cubes
- 2 banana shallots, peeled and finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2 rosemary sprigs
- 175ml/6fl oz white wine
- 250ml/9fl oz good-quality chicken stock
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 2 tbsp capers
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 15g/½oz fresh flatleaf parsley, finely chopped, to garnish
Method
To make the garlic greens, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Drizzle the garlic head with the oil, then wrap in kitchen foil and roast for 1 hour until softened. Remove the garlic from the foil and squeeze out the cloves. Set aside.
To make the potatoes, tip all of the potatoes into a large saucepan of heavily salted cold water. Add the stock cube, garlic, onion, lemon zest, thyme and rosemary. Bring to the boil over a high heat, then cook for 10–15 minutes until tender.
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7.
Remove the garlic, onion and herbs from the pan. Drain the potatoes into a colander and return to the hot saucepan. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to steam dry for 10¬–15 minutes.
Meanwhile, while the potatoes are steaming, place the duck fat on a large baking tray and pop into the oven for 10¬–15 minutes.
Lay the potatoes in a single layer on a wire rack. Mix together the cornflour, garlic granules, onion granules and a large pinch of salt in a small bowl. Use a sieve to shake a thin layer of the cornflour mixture evenly over the potatoes, turning them over to cover all sides. Carefully place all of the potatoes into the hot duck fat and turn them to coat.
Roast for 30 minutes, then give the tray a shake and turn the potatoes.
While the potatoes are roasting for 30 minutes, prepare the chicken. Mix the garlic pepper, onion salt and mixed herbs in a small bowl. Dry the skin of the chicken with kitchen paper and sprinkle over the herb mixture. Drizzle with the oil and coat the chicken in the herb mixture and oil.
Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and fry the chicken skin-side down until golden. Transfer to a roasting tin.
Turn the chicken over and pop into the oven alongside the potatoes. Continue to roast the potatoes for another 30 minutes until golden brown all over and super crunchy. Roast the chicken alongside for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. The chicken is cooked through when the juices run clear with no trace of pink when the thickest part of the meat is pierced with a skewer.
Remove the cooked chicken from the pan and set aside on a plate. Keep the potatoes warm.
To make the caper sauce, heat the butter in the chicken pan and fry the shallots for 2 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and rosemary. Deglaze the pan with white wine and reduce by half before pouring in the chicken stock.
Bring to a bubble and reduce until thickened. Add the lemon zest and juice, spoon in the capers and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
Continue to make the garlic greens. Heat a glug of oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and fry the broccoli for 2 minutes until starting to soften. Add the green beans and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the roast garlic and season generously with salt and pepper.
Serve the chicken and potatoes on warmed plates. Garnish the sauce with the parsley and pour over the chicken. Sprinkle the Parmesan on top of the garlic greens and serve the greens alongside the chicken and potatoes.
