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Ras El Hanout Chicken Thighs with Baked Feta & Shaved Salad | DonalSkehan.com, Roast chicken but not as you know it!
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Ras El Hanout Chicken Thighs with Baked Feta & Shaved Salad

January 23

In this recipe I have used a dry rub option on crisp chicken thighs, cooked in the oven until tender and humming with spice. Alongside them- baked feta. The idea of baking feta cheese makes it, as an ingredient, far more appealing to me. Perhaps it has been ruined for me by one too many dodgy Greek salads, but this method reduces it’s acidic bite and leaves you with a warm and creamy cheese which impressively holds it’s shape.  Alongside the transformed chicken and the crunch of some lightly dressed fennel shavings and herbs, this is a supper, which is far greater than the sum of its parts.

  • serves Serves 4
  • time 50 mins

Method

  1. 1. Preheat the oven to 200˚C/400°F/GasMark 6.

  2. 2. Place the chicken thighs and red onion on a large flat low sided baking tin and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle on the ras-el-hanout and season generously with sea salt and ground black pepper.
  3. 3. Place in the oven to roast for 35 minutes. When crispy and almost cooked through, remove the roasting tin from the oven and break the feta into four chunky pieces around the sides of the chicken. Drizzle with a little extra oil and sprinkle with chilli flakes and dried oregano.
  4. 4. Place back in the oven to bake for a further 10 minutes until the chicken is completely cooked through. Combine all the ingredients for the salad and serve alongside the chicken and feta.

Ingredients

For the chicken:

8 chicken thighs

1-2 tbsp rapeseed oil

2-3 red onions, sliced in quarters, roots in tact

2 tbsp ras-el-hanout

2 x 200g packs of feta

2 tsp dried chilli flakes

2 tsp dried oregano

Sea salt and ground black pepper

For the shaved salad:

1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Juice of ½ lemon

1 tsp fennel seeds, toasted

2 heads fennel, shaved on a mandolin

Handful of mint, to garnish

Handful of coriander, to garnish

You'll Need

Large flat low sided baking tin