This easy one pan dish is a dream to throw together and you end up with crispy skinned, juicy chicken pieces, melt in your mouth fennel, flavoursome potatoes and a yummy pan sauce.

It’s perfect on cool spring evenings, but not super heavy on the warmer ones either. The flavours are classic and comforting with just a little twist to spice things up!

Salt rubbing the marylands the night before makes the chicken super juicy and the skin really crisp. Even doing it for an hour will help things along. By cooking everything in stock and using little potatoes, you get to skip par boiling the potatoes. Win! They end up super flavoursome and tender and golden where they’ve been popping out of the liquid.

Then you get the salty yoghurt and feta sauce to finish and it’s a flavour party. The only kind of party in my life currently….

Serves 2 but can be doubled to serve 4

Ingredients

2 x chicken marylands

Salt rub

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sumac

1/2 tsp onion flakes

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

1 Tbs fresh Rosemary

1/4 tsp peppercorns

Yoghurt and Feta Sauce

1/3 cup Danish feta

1/2 cup plain yoghurt

The Rest

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

400g chat potatoes, halved

1/2 fennel, cut into wedges

2-4 garlic cloves, smashed

Sprig Rosemary

1 tsp salt

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 lemon, cut into 4

Parsley to serve

Directions

Use a mortar and pestle to pound together the salt rub until the peppercorns and Rosemary are broken up.

Rub this all over the chicken and then place in the fridge uncovered for at least an hour, preferably overnight. I’ve left for up to two days before.

When you’re ready to cook: preheat oven to 210 c.

Place an oven safe pan on medium high heat. Add oil and then the chicken, skin side down. Cook until golden and then turn and cook for 3 minutes.

Remove chicken from the pan and add the fennel in the middle of the pan and the potatoes around the edges. Toss in garlic cloves. Sprinkle with salt and break apart the Rosemary sprig over this. Pour over the chicken stock then top with the chicken, skin side up.

Transfer to your oven and cook for 44 minutes, add the lemon then cook for 15 more minutes. Or until the potatoes are tender and golden where exposed. The stock should have reduced by at least half and the chicken skin will be crispy.

While it’s cooking make your yoghurt and feta sauce either by processing in a food processor or blender or mashing feta with a fork and then whipping with the yoghurt.

Serve with dollops of sauce and the parsley over top.

HH. x