Paprika chicken with roast peppers and crispy potatoes

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 8 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on
• 800g potatoes, cut into chunky pieces
• 3 red peppers, cut into thick strips
• 1 red onion, cut into wedges
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Get the potatoes started

Heat the oven to 220°C fan. Put the potatoes into a large pan of well-salted cold water and bring to the boil. Cook for 8–10 minutes until the edges are just starting to soften, then drain well and leave them to steam dry for a minute or two. This helps them crisp up later rather than merely sitting there looking hopeful.

2. Make the paprika coating

In a large bowl, mix 2 tbsp of the olive oil with the garlic, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, oregano, lemon juice, a good pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper. Add the chicken and toss well so everything is properly coated.

3. Build the tray

Tip the potatoes into a large roasting tray with the peppers and red onion. Add the remaining olive oil, season with salt and black pepper, and toss everything together. Sit the chicken thighs on top, skin-side up, so the juices can run down into the vegetables as it all cooks. That is very much part of the plan.

4. Roast until everything looks convincing

Roast for 40–45 minutes, turning the potatoes and peppers once halfway through, until the chicken is cooked through and golden, the peppers are soft and slightly charred at the edges, and the potatoes are crisp and deeply coloured. If the chicken skin needs a little encouragement at the end, give it another 5 minutes.

5. Finish properly

Take the tray out of the oven and leave it to sit for 5 minutes. Scatter over the parsley and give the peppers and potatoes a gentle toss around the chicken so everything gets a bit of those good paprika juices.

6. Serve

Serve straight from the tray or spoon onto plates while everything is still hot and crisp-edged. A green salad or some garlicky yoghurt on the side would not go amiss, but it is perfectly capable of carrying dinner on its own.

A couple of helpful notes

- Chicken thighs are ideal here because they stay juicy and take well to strong seasoning, but drumsticks would also work nicely.
- Do not overcrowd the tray or the potatoes will soften and steam rather than crisp up properly. Use 2 trays if needed.
- A little chilli flakes in the marinade works very well if you want to give the whole thing a bit more of a kick.