Confit chicken
Slow cooking can be so rewarding. Meat that just falls away from the bone is a real FatSteak Club love so the confit process is a winner. Slow cooking in oil has a few advantages: big flavours (such as citrus oils) are held in better; the outcome is perfectly moist flesh (but not oily), and most importantly - provides a useful by-product in the now delicious oil. This recipe, inspired by Rachel Roddy’s, makes use of the confit oil to roast potatoes to perfection.
Step 1 - prepare the chicken (the day before)
Massage seasoning into the legs and leave in a sealed pot in the fridge overnight.
1 hour before starting, bring the chicken out of the fridge to rise to room temperature.
Step 2 - confit!
Preheat the oven to 180 C.
In the base of an oven dish that the legs fit tightly into, add a handful of thyme and sage.
Peel the zest from the orange and lemons using a potato peeler and add.
Peel the whole garlic bulb and add the cloves.
Chop the ginger stem into small slices and add.
Arrange the legs on top of these flavour ingredients, skin side up.
Cover with enough oil to just leave the very top of the skins exposed.
Put the pot in the oven (uncovered) for 20 min then turn down to 140 C and leave for 3 hours.
Step 3 - prepare the potatoes
Whilst the chicken cooks, peel the potatoes and chop into even-sized lumps, preferably with edges.
Top tip: Boil these in a large pan of water which includes some of the peelings as these will add to the spud flavour.
When the potatoes are soft (easily pierced with a knife), remove from the heat and drain.
Pick out the peelings and after the potatoes have cooled slightly rough the edges by swirling in the colander.
Leave the potatoes to cool completely.
Step 4 - Finish the dish
The chicken should stand in the oil for 1 hour after being removed from the oven. After this time, lift the pieces out and keep warm in a dish.
During this time return the oil (in a tray) to a hot oven (180 - 200 C) for 10 minutes then add the potatoes.
The roasties should be ready after about 45 -60 min.
Serve all together with some green vegetables.
Ingredients
4 full chicken legs (skin on)
Salt and pepper
Sprigs thyme
Fresh sage leaves
1 orange
4 lemons (unwaxed)
1 bulb garlic
Small stem of fresh ginger (~5 cm)
750 - 1000 ml of virgin olive oil
500g waxy potatoes
I trained as a chemist, and now I don't work in a laboratory anymore, I apply that knowledge to my cooking. I do love my gadgets, experimenting and using an understanding of the principles of chemistry to make the very best food. I seem to cook more and more as a hobby now I don't wear a lab coat, and still dream of retiring to run a small restaurant somewhere quiet.
My confidence really came when I taught myself to cook Italian and found I was pretty good at making pasta. I was married to a vegetarian then and it was the one cuisine where I didn't miss meat. I'm big on meat usually and passionate about great ingredients and doing things from scratch yourself. I did a butchery course last year and intend to learn all the skills needed to butcher and make use of a whole pig nose to tail.
Eating out is also a passion, and I particularly like to go for things I don't think I could do at home easily or better! Mind you, I do love a pie.
