Tom's Recipes
Spanakopita Roast Chicken
Crisp roast chicken legs over garlicky spinach and yoghurt, with feta, dill and buttery shards of sesame filo.
- Makes
- 2 servings
- Prep
- 15 minutes
- Cook
- 1 hour
- Oven
- 200°C
Ingredients
For the Chicken
For the Filo Shards
For the Spinach
To Serve
You Will Need
- A large, high-sided roasting tray
- A baking tray lined with baking parchment
Method
Tap a time to start a timer.
Heat the oven to 200°C. Put the chicken legs in the roasting tray, zest the lemon over them, drizzle with the oil and rub them all over with the oregano and plenty of salt and pepper.
- 2 chicken legs
- ½ lemon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- salt and pepper
Roast the chicken for .
Meanwhile, melt the butter. Stack the filo sheets on the lined baking tray, brushing each one with butter, and scatter over the sesame seeds.
- 15g unsalted butter
- 2 sheets of filo pastry
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
Bake the filo alongside the chicken for until deep golden, then leave it to cool, when it crisps up further.
Lightly crush the garlic and roughly chop the spring onions. Add them to the chicken, toss everything in the juices and roast for more, until the skin is crisp and the juices run clear. Lift out the chicken to rest.
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 spring onions
Toss half the spinach in the tray juices and return it to the oven for until wilted. Add the rest and cook for more.
- 200g spinach
Stir the yoghurt and most of the dill through the spinach, squeeze over the juice of half the zested lemon and season with salt and pepper.
- 80g full-fat Greek yoghurt
- 10g dill
Spoon the spinach onto plates and top with the chicken. Scatter over the rest of the dill, the filo broken into shards and the feta in large crumbs, and serve with the lemon wedges.
- 80g feta
- ½ lemon, in wedges
Frozen Spinach
Frozen spinach works too. Add the blocks straight to the tray and stir them halfway through.
Timing
Chicken legs can take longer than the method says to crisp, so go by the skin and the juices.
Legs from a Whole Chicken
The 2 legs from a whole chicken serve 2. Cut through the skin between the leg and the body, bend the leg back until the joint pops, then cut through the joint. Freeze the legs if you are not cooking them within 2 days and defrost them in the fridge overnight.
For Ted
Give Ted chicken from under the skin with some spinach and yoghurt, taken before the feta goes on.
Source: Mob, by Kitty Coles