Roast chicken legs with sweet tomatoes and lemon thyme

This chicken dish was made following a recipe from Jamie's Dinners. I replaced the basil leaves with lemon thyme since that's what I had on hand. It's dead simple, with little preparation and the slow cooking in the oven is what makes this dish outstanding with meat that falls off the bone and juices in the pan that is sweet with tomatoey goodness.




Ingredients (serves 4)

4 chicken legs
Salt and pepper
A small handful of thyme
2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes, halved or left whole if very small
2 ripe plum tomatoes, quartered
Half a bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
Olive oil



Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/gas mark 4. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and place in an oven dish in one layer. Scatter the tomatoes, garlic and stalks of thyme all over the chicken. Drizzle all over with olive oil and cook in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Turn the tomatoes halfway through to prevent them from burning

When cooked, the chicken skin should be crisp and the meat falls off the bone. Before serving, squeeze the garlic out of the skin and smear them over the chicken and into the tomato juices in the pan.

I served the chicken legs with spring onion mash, grilled peppers and asparagus, and tomato juices from the pan spooned over the chicken. Freshly picked thyme leaves were scattered all over just before serving for a fresh herby touch of fragrance.