Indian-spiced Chicken and Potato Traybake

Nigella Lawson shares a recipe from her new book of home-cooking favourites

“I am not one for peeling potatoes if I can get away without, but here you want the cubes of potato to drink in the spiced lime and chicken juices as they cook, becoming soft and almost soused.

“You need eat nothing more with this than a good bitter-leaved salad. I’m always keen on an escarole, but a ruby mound of radicchio and a small bowl of Bollywood-pink, quick-pickled onions are just clamouring to be put on the table alongside. Simply squeeze the juice of 2 to 3 limes over 1 small red onion, peeled and cut into thin half-moons. Cover and let it steep while you prepare and cook the chicken. Lift the onions out of the marinade to serve.

“And should you have any chicken left over, you can make one of my favourite sandwiches. Just mix together a tablespoonful of mayo, a pinch of salt, and a teaspoon each of mango chutney and garam masala, then shred and stir in the meat from one chicken thigh and clamp between two slices of bread.”

INGREDIENTS

• Potatoes – 3¼ pounds, peeled and cut into approximately 1-inch cubes
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 2 tsp nigella seeds
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 2 limes, finely grated zest and juice
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 tsp sea salt flakes or kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
• ¼ cup cold water
• 12 chicken thighs, skin-on and bone-in
• 2 tbsp regular olive oil
• Cilantro
• Quick-pickled onions (see recipe introduction)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Put the cut potatoes into a large, shallow roasting pan and sprinkle with the spices, followed by the lime zest and juice, garlic, 2 teaspoons of salt and the water.
2. Tumble the chicken into the pan, and toss everything well together then turn the chicken skin-side-up on top of the potatoes. Drizzle the skin with the oil and sprinkle over a little salt, then cook in the oven for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are tender and the chicken cooked through, its skin golden and crisp. Serve scattered with chopped cilantro and, if wished, the quick-pickled onions. 

Serves 6

Excerpted from the book At My Table by Nigella Lawson. Copyright © 2018 by Nigella Lawson. Reprinted with permission from Appetite by Random House Books. All rights reserved. Photography by Jonathan Lovekin.