Melt in the mouth, tender chicken marinated with chilli and garlic, then oven-baked and served with a luscious, silky, creamy, garlic mashed potato.
Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
First make the chilli marinade – place the fresh chilli, chilli flakes, garlic, oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper into a small food processor and blitz until thoroughly mixed.
Now marinade the chicken – slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally.
Lay the chicken halves on a lightly oiled baking tray.
Divide half of the marinade between the chicken breasts and brush over to cover.
Turn the breasts over and brush with the remaining marinade.
Cover with cling film and set aside for a minimum of 30 minutes or up to 24 hours in the fridge.
Make the garlic confit – preheat oven to Fan Oven 200°C/220°C/425°F/Gas 7
Slice the top ¼ off a both bulbs of garlic. Put in the centre of a piece of foil. Loosely gather the foil around the garlic, pour over ½ teaspoon of olive oil on each bulb and season with salt and pepper.
Seal the foil loosely around the top of the garlic and put in a pre-heated oven for 40 minutes.
Remove from the oven. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the confit out of the cloves. (If you cannot wait and the garlic is still hot, I use rubber gloves to protect my hands.)
Make the Skordalia – peel the potatoes and cut into even sized chunks. Cover with cold water, add the salt and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook until soft. This will take 15 – 25 minutes, depending on the type and size of the potatoes. Drain well.
Add the olive oil, 160g soured cream, garlic confit from both the bulbs and the freshly ground black pepper.
Mash the potatoes with either a potato masher or an electric whisk. (NB If whisking, stop whisking as soon as the potatoes are light and fluffy. If you over-whisk, the potatoes can become waxy in texture.)
Taste and add more salt and/or sour cream as necessary.
Cook the chicken – as soon as you put the potatoes on to boil, put the chicken in the oven alongside the garlic confit. Cook for 15 minutes, or until cooked and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
To serve: spread some skordalia onto a hot plate.
Top with chicken and pour over some juices from the baking tray. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve some salad and/or vegetables on the side and a wedge of lemon.
Equipment:
Different types of chicken:
Bill Granger uses chicken legs and cooks these for 45 - 50 minutes. Bone in thighs and drumsticks will take around 40 - 45 minutes. Thighs, no bones, will need around 25 minutes.