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Piri-piri chicken with potatoes, peppers and tomatoes

Preparation time
overnight

Cooking time
30 mins to 1 hour

Serves
Serves 4–6

By Paul Ainsworth
From Saturday Kitchen

Ingredients

For the piri-piri marinade

  • 1 red chilli, sliced (or to taste)
  • 1½ tsp smoked paprika
  • 25g/1oz light brown sugar
  • 1 lime, juice and zest
  • 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 50ml/2fl oz olive oil
  • ½ bunch fresh oregano, finely chopped
  • 2 tsp port
  • 1 tsp salt

For the piri-piri chicken

  • 6 chicken thighs and 6 chicken drumsticks or 1 whole spatch-cock chicken
  • 500g/1lb 2oz new potatoes
  • 1 sheet kombu
  • 2 red peppers, thickly sliced
  • 2 yellow peppers, thickly sliced
  • 250g/9oz fresh cherry tomatoes on the vine, vine reserved
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 sprigs fresh oregano
  • ½ bunch finely chopped fresh coriander

To serve

  • 1 lemon, zest only
  • 1 lime, zest only
  • 50g/1¾oz coriander, roughly chopped

Method

  1. To make the piri-piri marinade, combine all the ingredients in a pestle and mortar or a food processor and blend or grind to form a paste.

  2. To make the piri-piri chicken, rub the paste all over the chicken, cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for a few hours, ideally overnight. When you are ready to cook the chicken, remove it from the fridge to get to room temperature.

  3. Bring a pan of boiling salted water to the boil and add the kombu. Cook the new potatoes in the pan until just tender. Drain, cool slightly, slice and set aside.

  4. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6, and heat a griddle pan or barbecue to hot.

  5. Brown the chicken directly on the griddle pan or barbecue for 2 minutes on each side.

  6. Add the potatoes, peppers, tomatoes (and vine), thyme, oregano and coriander to a large roasting tray and mix well.

  7. Put the browned chicken on top of the main ingredients in the tray and place in the preheated oven for about 35–45 minutes, dependent on the size of the chicken – use a food thermometer and check that the core temperature has reached 74C. During the cooking process, baste the tomato over the chicken while it is cooking – you may also need to add a little water to the tray if the mix starts to dry during cooking. Remove and leave to rest, covered in a warm place for 5 minutes.

  8. To serve, finish with fresh chopped coriander, lemon and lime zest and a pinch of rock salt.

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