…if what they want is GOOD food.

My girlfriend and I made a trip to Marin Sun Farms just south of the West Marin town of Point Reyes and found that they were having a special on chicken. With the intention of taking advantage of discounted, pasture-raised, healthy chicken, we decided to grab a few pounds of thighs and legs.  While we debated about several complex recipes  on the car ride home, it was a simple and resourceful recipe from Nigel Slater’s, Real Food that ultimately, won us over.

With rapidly wilting basil in the refrigerator and a couple of extra chiles on hand, this satisfying dish came together in minutes and offered the comfort of traditional pan-roasted chicken, but with the refreshing zip of chiles, wine and lemon to cut through the delicious rendered fat. While we ended up eating ours with rice, Slater recommends serving the chicken among a bed of a few green salad leaves “to mop up the sticky, aromatic pan juices from the plate.” A nice baguette might also do the trick.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH BASIL, CHILI, AND LEMON

Adapted from Nigel Slater’s, Real Food

Make sure to find a pan that will just accommodate the chicken and lemon halves during roasting as this will help the contents brown more evenly and prevent against burning. Also, don’t be afraid to throw the pan under the broiler at the end of cooking if the chicken skin isn’t crispy enough.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken legs, separated at the joint
• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• Olive oil
• 2 large cloves of garlic
• One fresh red chili, minced
  
• One lemon
• One large handful of basil leaves (about 30 leaves)
• One 5-ounce glass of white wine

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. Season the chicken well with salt and pepper and put the pieces in a roasting pan.  Pour over enough olive oil to moisten them and make a shallow pool in the pan.
3. Smash the garlic in its skin, and tuck it in with the chicken along with the minced chili.  Squeeze the lemon over the chicken and drop the empty lemon shells in, too.
4. Roast for thirty minutes, then tear up basil leaves and toss them about with the chicken. Return to the oven for ten minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and pour the wine over the chicken, then place the pan over a hot flame and let the wine bubble for a minute or two before removing from the heat and serving.
   

Serves 2