Recipe for roast chicken legs with sticky figs, red onions and oloroso vinegar

While going through Spain one October, cooking as I went, I was astonished to perceive how late the fig season was. Sweet, tacky organic product swung from the loaded branches in large numbers, and we ate them wherever we went – in syrup, with cheddar, heated and new. My top pick of all, however, were the figs simmered in exquisite pretenses. Here, I prepare them with oloroso vinegar, a sweet, adjusted sherry vinegar rather like balsamic, which covers the products of the soil in a tacky, delightful caramel.

Cook chicken legs with tacky figs, red onions and oloroso vinegar

Fresh chicken skin, exquisite olives and sweet, tacky figs make this a tasty dinner dish.

Prep 20 min

Marinate 2 hr+ (discretionary)

Cook 40 min

Serves 4

1 entire head garlic

4 chicken legs, or 8 chicken pieces

Salt and pepper

2-3 tbsp oloroso vinegar, or great balsamic vinegar

8 twigs new thyme

3 red onions, stripped and cut into eighths

6 not very ready figs, quartered

12 dark olives, split and stoned

Extra-virgin olive oil

Slam the head of garlic a few times with a moving pin to tear it open. Take two of the cloves, and strip and pound them. Slice the chicken legs down the middle, to isolate the thighs and drumsticks, then, at that point, season liberally and focus on the squashed garlic, a tablespoon of the vinegar and the leaves from a couple of branches of thyme. On the off chance that you have the opportunity, cover, put in the refrigerator and leave to marinate for a couple of hours, or overnight; in any case, break on with cooking the dish.

An hour prior to you need to eat, heat the broiler to 200C (180C fan)/390 F/gas 6. Put the excess garlic and thyme, the onions, figs and olives in a huge, profound broiler plate, and season liberally. Pour more than three to four tablespoons of olive oil and throw with your hands. Sprinkle throughout the remainder of the vinegar and meal for 15 minutes.

In the interim, heat a wide dish over a high hotness, pour in a tablespoon of olive oil and brown the chicken skin side down for three to four minutes. When the skin has shaded, move the chicken parts of the fig and onion plate, nestling them skin side up on top, and dish, blending a few times, for 15-20 minutes, until the chicken juices run clear when you pierce the thickest piece of a thigh with a stick (the circumstance will change contingent upon the size of the chicken pieces).

Serve directly from the plate for certain fresh potatoes, cauliflower puree, dried up bread, a green plate of mixed greens – or whatever else that sounds great to you.

The basic flex

I love to heat feta with figs: line a huge ceramic pot with foil and add pieces of feta to figs, onions and thyme; no olives this time, yet the zing and juice of a large portion of a lemon wouldn’t go out of order. Prepare as above and present with dry bread.