Meat mains
Rhubarb & ginger glazed chicken with spiced roasted potatoes & greens
Rhubarb is a really versatile vegetable (it is a vegetable, not a fruit, although it’s often used in puddings). It’s good with pork, poultry and even oily fish like mackerel. It sounds unusual but the glaze for the chicken has a lovely sweet-sour flavour from the rhubarb, with warm ginger and a few ingredients reminiscent of a BBQ sauce. You can add a little less ginger if you like, 1-2 teaspoons instead of 1 tablespoon, but we like the kick 1 tablespoon gives it.
Cook's notes
To test your chicken is cooked through, insert a sharp knife into the thickest part of the jointed pieces; the juices should run clear, no bright pink remaining.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion
- oil for frying e.g. sunflower or light olive
- 50g ginger
- 1 garlic clove
- 150g rhubarb
- 400g potatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 tsp Worcester sauce
- 1 tsp cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 chicken thighs
- 2 chicken drumsticks
- 1 lemon
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 350g spring or summer greens
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Peel and finely dice the onion. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a small saucepan. Add the onion and cook on a low heat for 8 minutes, stirring now and then to stop it catching. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 210°C/Gas Mark 6.
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Step 2
Peel and finely grate enough ginger so you have 1 tablespoon worth (use a little less, 1-2 teaspoon if you prefer less of a ginger kick). Peel and finely chop or crush 1 garlic clove. Wash the rhubarb and thinly slice (about 1cm).
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Step 3
Wash the potatoes, leaving the skins on. Chop them into smallish chunks, not too large, so they cook in time. Toss them in a baking dish in just enough oil to coat. Season with salt and pepper.
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Step 4
Once the onion has cooked for 8 minutes, add the ginger, garlic and rhubarb. Stir for 1 minute. Add the tomato ketchup, Worcester sauce, vinegar, dark brown sugar and season with a little salt and pepper. Add 75ml (5 tablespoons) of water. Bring up to the boil, lower the heat and simmer, stirring now and then, until the rhubarb is pulpy and soft, about 4-5 minutes.
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Step 5
Stir in the mustard. Use a fork or spoon to mash it together. You can blitz it in a processor for a smoother sauce if you like, but there's no real need to make extra washing up.
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Step 6
Pull the skin off the chicken thighs and drumsticks (the drumsticks can be tricky at the thinner, bony end; a few nicks into the skin with a sharp knife should help remove the last of it). Lightly grease a snug-fitting baking dish and lay the chicken in. Toss them with half the rhubarb mix then spread the rest on top. Drizzle with a little oil.
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Step 7
Bake both the chicken and potatoes for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, toss the potatoes with the garam masala, a squeeze of lemon juice (about 1 tablespoon), then bake both chicken and potatoes for a further 10-15 minutes or so, until the chicken is cooked through (no pink juices remain) and the potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.
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Step 8
Meanwhile, wash the spring greens and strip or cut the leaves away from the tough stalks. Discard the stalks. Lay the leaves on top of each other, roll them up into a fat cigar and thinly shred them.
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Step 9
Once the chicken and potatoes are almost done, wilt the greens in a frying pan with a little oil for about 3-4 minutes. Season and serve with the potatoes and chicken, spooning over any juices from the baking dish.