Ingredients

• 8 chicken thighsbone-in and skin-on, for the sauce as much as the skin
• 700 g baby potatoes
• 8 shallotspeeled
• 250 ml dry ciderdry, not sweet; sweet cider reduces to something cloying
• 150 ml chicken stock
• 100 ml double cream
• 25 g butter
• 10 sage leaves
• 1 tart applesliced
• 1 tsp Dijon
• 1 1/4 tsp fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. 01

   Start the potatoes

   Heat the oven to 220 C / 200 C fan. Boil the potatoes for 12 minutes, drain, steam dry for 5 minutes, then crush each lightly on an oiled tray, seasoning with the remaining 1/4 tsp salt and pepper and roast for 30-35 minutes until jagged and crisp.

   700 g baby potatoes · 1 1/4 tsp fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

2. 02

   Sear the chicken

   Pat the 8 thighs dry and season them all over with 1 tsp of the fine salt and a good grind of black pepper. Place them skin side down in a cold ovenproof frying pan, then set it over medium heat. Starting cold renders the fat out slowly and gives you a better crust. Cook for 10-12 minutes without moving them, until the skin is deep golden and releases easily. Turn, give the flesh side 2 minutes, then lift out.

   8 chicken thighs · 1 1/4 tsp fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

   Start the skin in a cold panIt renders slowly and crisps far better than skin dropped into hot fat, which seizes.

3. 03

   Caramelise the shallots

   Pour off all but a tablespoon of the fat, add the 8 peeled shallots cut side down and cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes until browned.

   8 shallots

4. 04

   Reduce the cider right down

   Pour in the cider and let it bubble over medium-high heat for 4-6 minutes, until reduced by half and it smells sweet rather than sharp and alcoholic. This is the step that decides whether the finished sauce tastes rounded or raw.

   250 ml dry cider

   Reduce the cider firstBy half, before anything joins it. Cream into raw cider tastes thin and can split.

5. 05

   Braise

   Add the stock and Dijon, return the chicken skin side up, and roast in the oven for 18-22 minutes, until the meat reads 75 C and the skin is crisp again. Lift the chicken out and stir the cream into the pan, simmering for 2-3 minutes until glossy.

   150 ml chicken stock · 1 tsp Dijon · 100 ml double cream

6. 06

   Apples and sage

   While it roasts, melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat, caramelise the apple slices for 2-3 minutes a side until golden, and lift out. Add the sage leaves to the same butter for 30-45 seconds until crisp.

   25 g butter · 10 sage leaves

   Sage butter at the tableStirred in early the leaves soften and you lose both the crackle and the smell.

7. 07

   Serve

   Spoon the sauce over the chicken and shallots, add the caramelised apple, pour over the sage butter with its crisp leaves, and serve with the crushed potatoes.