Confit Chicken Legs Recipe

Potatoes, bacon, and egg are much-loved ingredients from the 1940s, so what better time to group them together in this delicious recipe for chicken legs with potato hash. Chicken runs through the veins of British cooking, from its coronation variety to the glorious Sunday Roast. With our Free Range Chicken Legs on offer this week, why not rustle up this tasty dish, indulgently topped with a runny and rich poached egg. Naturally gluten-free and freezable, it only requires 15 minutes of prep time and you can leave the oven to do the rest of the work!

INGREDIENTS

For the confit: 

2 Lidgate Chicken Legs

4 thyme sprigs (plus 1 tbsp picked thyme leaves) 

25g sea salt

Zest 1 lemon

1 shallot

1 garlic bulb

1 sprig tarragon

600ml olive oil

For the potato hash: 

400g potatoes (diced)

50g Lidgate Streaky Bacon (cut into lardons)

1 leek

1 green chilli (chopped)

50g spinach

25g kale (shredded)

½ small flat leaf parsley (a handful reserved to serve)

½ tbsp sherry

2 eggs

METHOD

1.     Mix the thyme leaves with the salt and lemon zest. Rub over the chicken legs, then chill for 1 hr. Heat oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1. 

2.     Pat the chicken dry with kitchen paper. Place in a small roasting tin with the remaining confit ingredients. Bake in the oven for 2-2 1/2 hrs until tender, then remove from the oil and drain on a wire rack. Reserve and strain the oil – this is great for roasting veg or making more confit. Reserve the shallot and garlic.

3.     To make the hash, heat 1 tbsp of the infused oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan. Add the potatoes and cook for about 10 mins until they start to soften. Add the bacon and cook, stirring, until it’s crisping. Add the leeks, chilli, confit shallot and garlic (squeezed out of its skin). Cook for another 5 mins until the leeks have softened and the potatoes are cooked through. Season, then add the spinach, kale and parsley. Stir until the leaves have wilted. Add a splash of vinegar.

4.     Poach the eggs in barely simmering water for 3 mins, then drain on kitchen paper. Serve the chicken with the hash, eggs and a sprinkling of parsley.

Recipe originally found at: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/confit-chicken-legs-potato-hash-poached-egg