Ingredients

• 8 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-onbone-in and skin-on, for the lacquered skin
• 800 g baby potatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 6 garlic clovesleft whole in their skins, or they scorch at 210 C
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp chilli sauce
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 8 sage leaves
• 1 tsp fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. 01

   Parboil the potatoes

   Heat the oven to 210 C / 190 C fan with a large baking tray inside. Boil the potatoes in salted water for 12 minutes, then drain and leave in the colander for 5 minutes to steam dry until the surfaces look chalky.

   800 g baby potatoes

2. 02

   Start the chicken

   Pat the chicken thighs completely dry, arrange them skin side up on a second tray with space between them, and season with the smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Dry skin is crisp skin. Roast for 20 minutes.

   8 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on · 1 tsp smoked paprika

   Dry the skinUncovered in the fridge for an hour if you have it. Moisture is all that stands between you and crisp skin.

3. 03

   Crush and roast the potatoes

   Tip the potatoes onto the preheated tray with the olive oil and the garlic cloves, still in their skins, and crush each one lightly with a masher until the edges split. Roast alongside the chicken for 25-30 minutes, turning once, until jagged and deeply crisp. Leaving the garlic unpeeled means it roasts to sweetness instead of burning.

   2 tbsp olive oil · 6 garlic cloves

   Two traysCrowded together, chicken and potatoes steam each other and neither one crisps.

4. 04

   Glaze the chicken

   Mix the maple syrup, chilli sauce and cider vinegar. Brush the thighs lightly with about half of it and roast for a further 10-15 minutes, until the skin is lacquered and the meat reads 75 C at the bone.

   3 tbsp maple syrup · 1 tbsp chilli sauce · 1 tbsp cider vinegar

5. 05

   Reduce the glaze with the tray juices

   Tip the juices from the chicken tray into a small pan with the remaining glaze and reduce over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, until glossy and syrupy. The roasting juices are the savoury half of the glaze. Without them it is just sweet.

   Glaze late, glaze twiceOnce in the oven to set it, once off the heat for shine. Early glazing burns and softens.

6. 06

   Finish

   Crisp the sage leaves in a little oil or in the hot tray for 30 seconds. Brush the reduced glaze over the chicken only after it has come out of the oven, so the skin stays crisp under the lacquer, and scatter the sage over everything.

   8 sage leaves