Chicken thighs with cherry tomatoes and new potatoes
A protein-packed, Positive Pause favourite. This one tray bake has been adapted over the years from a Jamie Oliver recipe.
Quick, easy to prepare, although it does take time to get sticky and juicy. It’s perfect for an informal dinner party, as you can prepare it early and shove it in the oven whilst enjoying the company of your guests.
Serve with a green salad or with sautéed green vegetables with lemon and garlic.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 ½ -2 hours
Ingredients
8 chicken thighs, or a combination of thighs and drumsticks, skin on, bone in
500g Charlotte or new potatoes, sliced into 1.5cm slices
500g mixed cherry tomatoes
½ head of garlic, whole cloves skin on
large handful of fresh basil, leaves and stalks finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
½ tbsp coriander seeds
½ tbsp cumin seeds
large pinch dried chilli flakes, optional
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 170c fan. Clean the potatoes, dry and dice into 1.5 cm slices. Scatter in an oven proof dish or tray
Gently squish the garlic cloves with the back of a knife and scatter over the potatoes along with the cherry tomatoes. Lightly season with sea salt and black pepper.
In a pestle and mortar, grind the coriander and cumin seeds along with the chilli flakes.
Arrange the chicken on top of the potatoes and tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil scatter over the crushed seeds and season the chicken with a little more salt and pepper. Retain a few basil leaves and chop the rest including the stalks and scatter over the chicken. Toss the chicken with all the ingredients so they are all covered in oil and well-seasoned. You can do this with a spoon but we prefer to get dirty and use our hands. You might want to drizzle a little extra oil over the chicken.
Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and place in the oven. Check after 45 mins and turn the chicken and baste with the juices. Place back in the oven for a further 45 mins. If the chicken wasn’t looking very coloured by 45 mins you could raise the oven to 180c fan.
After 1 ½ hours or once the chicken starts to fall off the bone, the chicken skin should be crisp and a deep golden brown, and absorbed lots of the juices from the tomatoes. Remove from the oven and garnish with the remaining torn basil leaves. Serve it straight to the table. Guests can squeeze out the garlic from the cloves and mix with the chicken and juices.