Oven-Roasted Chicken Legs with Stilton Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
Oven-Roasted Chicken Legs
8 chicken drumsticks
2 heaping teaspoons ground peppers in oil (if you don't have homemade paste, you can use store-bought hot or sweet pepper paste: Edes Anna, Eros Pista, or a mix of both, depending on how spicy you want the legs)
4 large garlic cloves
1 level teaspoon smoked paprika
1 level teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons Tabasco Chipotle sauce
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons vinegar (I used apple cider)
salt, black pepper
Stilton Mashed Potatoes
4 medium potatoes
25g Stilton blue cheese
100ml hot milk
salt, black pepper
Spinach
400g frozen spinach (whole leaves)
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt, lemon juice
Servings: 4
Calories: 500 cal / serving
How to prepare oven-roasted chicken legs with stilton mashed potatoes
- In a mortar, crush the garlic cloves until they become a paste. Add the rest of the marinade ingredients and mix well.
- Season the chicken legs with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour the marinade over them and mix to coat them evenly. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking.
- Transfer the chicken legs along with all the marinade into a heat-resistant dish where they fit snugly, without much space between them. Pour 1 tablespoon of water along the edge of the dish.
- Roast the chicken in the oven (use convection if available) at 220°C for 25 minutes (until they start to brown slightly). Lower the temperature to 180°C and continue roasting for another 30 minutes. Every 15-20 minutes, using a brush, baste the legs with the sauce that forms beneath them in the pan.
- While the chicken is cooking, prepare the mash: Peel and cut the potatoes. Boil them in salted water. Drain well, then pass through a potato ricer (or use your favorite tool for mashing potatoes).
- Add the crumbled cheese, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. You can also add a little butter along with the cheese if desired. Mix well with a fork so the cheese melts into the hot potatoes.
- Slowly pour in the milk while fluffing the mash with a fork. Add hot milk until you reach the desired consistency. More milk means a lighter, fluffier mash. Less milk means a denser mash. Taste for salt.
- For the spinach, place the frozen pieces directly in a wide pan. Cover with a lid and let thaw over medium heat. Stir occasionally. When completely thawed, place in a sieve and press to remove the water. Transfer to a bowl, season with salt, squeeze some lemon juice (about 2 tablespoons) and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil.
- Serve the chicken legs with mashed potatoes, spinach, and crumble a little more Stilton cheese on top.
