Everyone needs an everyday chicken recipe, one that requires little washing-up or hands-on time. You can make several different versions of this; try swapping the chicken legs for thighs, the butter beans for cannellini or chickpeas and the chilli for any number of spices, from rase l hanout to hot smoked paprika. The chicken cooks in the buttery onion and tomatoes, which makes a glossy sauce good enough to mop off the plate with a chunk of bread.
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 large chicken legs
• 30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 3 teaspoons Aleppo chilli pepper
• 2 × 400 g (14 oz) tins butter (lima) beans, drained
• 250 g (9 oz) small tomatoes (cherry or piccolo)
• 150 ml (5 fl oz / 2/3 cup) chicken stock
• 1 lemon, half finely zested and half thinly sliced
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
•Crusty bread, to serve (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (350°F/gas 6). Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Season the chicken skin and fry, skin-side down, for 5 minutes, or until deep golden brown and crispy. Set aside in a roasting tin, skin-side up.
2. Heat the remaining oil with the butter in the same pan over a medium heat. When foaming, add the onions and fry for 15 minutes until soft and sticky. Add the garlic and 2 teaspoons of the Aleppo chilli pepper and cook for 1 minute. Stir through the butter beans, tomatoes, stock and lemon zest and season to taste. Spoon the beans and tomatoes around the chicken in the roasting tin. Nestle the lemon slices into the beans, then scatter the remaining chilli flakes over the chicken skin and roast for 30–35 minutes until cooked through.
3. Serve with crusty bread, if you like.
•Sprinkle Aleppo chilli pepper onto hummus or baba ghanoush.
•Add Aleppo chilli pepper to marinades for barbecued meats, such as spatchcock chicken.
• Whisk some lemon juice, oil, Aleppo chilli pepper and finely grated garlic together, then toss through drained butter beans for an easy bean side salad.
