Thyme, lemon and garlic roasted chicken thighs with roasted cauliflower salad

And the obsession with chicken thighs continues… this time (no pun intended) with so much fresh thyme you would gasp, heaps of garlic, lemon zest, salt and pepper, and olive oil. OMG this is my new favourite way of eating chicken. It could not be any easier. And it’s fairly quick too. The sauce that this recipe creates is heavenly. The skin gets all crispy as you have the heat mega high, turning down after a good 20 mins to ensure brown and crispy skin instead of white flabby skin – no one wants white, flabby skin, I’ve got enough of that on my own thighs thank you very much.

The trick here is to rub the chicken thighs all over with the marinade. I didn’t even leave it for that long, but you could do it overnight if you wanted. I popped on some Marigold Extra Safe Disposable Gloves for this task. Even though I genuinely like getting my hands dirty when cooking, when it comes to some things like chicken – especially when covered in garlic too – it’s not a bad thing to have your hands protected. Raw chicken isn’t something you want on your hands, clothes, or anywhere on your surroundings. They are designed especially for handling and preparing food as they are latex and powder-free. You may remember Nigella sporting a similar pair recently in her series. They really do come in handy – especially if you are cooking and entertaining or something at the same time. The whiff of raw garlic doesn’t mix well with Chanel No 5 darling…

As I chose to accompany my chicken thighs with a very heavily turmeric-laden roasted cauliflower, kale and buckwheat warm salad, they came in especially handy. As you will know, turmeric is literally the worst thing to get on your hands for staining, so I would go so far as to say gloves are a must have when using this trendy, super healthy spice. The salad, by the way, would make a lovely veggie main with some feta crumbled over. It was the first time I have cooked buckwheat, and I think, like quinoa, it takes some practice, but it turned out OK, much elevated by tossing in this salad – especially when I added some chicken roasting juices.

Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes

Ingredients: 
8 chicken thighs, preferably free-range or organic
Zest of a whole lemon
Juice of 1/4 of a lemon
5 cloves garlic, crushed
Bunch of thyme, woody stalks removed and roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Roasted cauliflower, kale, buckwheat warm salad 
1 head of cauliflower, florets removed and cit into even sized pieces
Big handful kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon turmeric
Salt and pepper
1 small cupful of buckwheat (you may have some leftover, depending on how much you add to the salad)

Instructions: 

1. Add chicken thighs to a large roasting pan. Throw in thyme, garlic, oil, lemon zest and juice, seasoning. Pop gloves on and give them a really good massage. Leave for anything from 10 minutes to overnight.
2. When you are ready to go, preheat your oven to 250C.
3. Pop your buckwheat on by adding 1 cup buckwheat to 2 cups cold water, and a little oil, to a pan and bringing to boil. Let it simmer until water has been absorbed. 12-15 mins approx.
4. Place roasting pan with chicken in the oven and roast on that high temp for about 20 mins. Turn down to 200C. Roast for another 15-20 mins on this heat.
5. When the chicken first goes in, get on with your veggie warm salad. Add florets, kale, oil, turmeric and seasoning to another large roasting pan and toss. Pop in oven at the point where the heat is being turned down, and the chicken has been in for 10 mins.
6. Take out chicken and check to see if cooked. Toss the veggies. Let the thighs rest.
7. Once the veggies are nicely tender and charred – the kale will almost disappear to nothing, just crispy flecks of green – remove from oven. Mix in as much buckwheat as you like to the veggie roasting pan.
8. Serve some of the chicken juices over the veggies.