We want to share with you how do we prepare our roast chicken legs for Christmas this year.

There are three sections in this recipe:

• How to prepare the juiciest roast chicken legs we ever roasted.
• How to prepare the roast potato with the crispy surface yet tender inside.
• How to make our special Asian inspired vegetable side dish compliment with the chicken.

The recipe is developed by my colleague Chef Jason, especially for Christmas. It is undoubtedly not Asian food that you might expect from me, but we make a twist to use the Asian vegetable side dish to replace the regular salad.

If you want to make a special dish for this Christmas, this roast chicken legs recipe is just ideal for you.

Let’s get started.

Note: This recipe has made for individual servings, but you can easily adjust the quantity of each ingredient for a whole chicken.

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1. The roast chicken legs

The choice of chicken

Get four large chicken whole legs, which is between 400g to 500 g each. You can also use the quartered whole chicken for this recipe.

Meat on the bone can freak out certain people. If you prefer white meat, substitute the chicken leg with four split chicken breasts. Most Asians prefer the bone-in thighs and drumsticks which are flavor-packed.

The marinade

Marinate the chicken leg overnight deepen the flavor. If you are short of time, you still need half a day to let the flavor penetrate the deeper part of the leg. Plan ahead to deliver the best result.

An overnight marinade tenderized this chicken practically will fall off the bone.

The marinade for the chicken is a mixture of salt, rosemary, thyme, ground black pepper, garlic, lemon zest, and olive oil.

Here are some tips to marinate the chicken:

1. Get some rosemary and thyme. Use fresh rosemary and thyme to yield the best flavor.
2. Use only the leaves of the rosemary. As for the thyme, you can chop it coarsely.
3. If you want to use the dry herbs, cut down the quantity by half.
4. Mashed or cut the garlic into slices to release more flavor to the chicken.
5. Use plenty of lemon zest. I use the zest of one lemon for two chicken legs.
6. Mashed a few cloves of garlic. Coarsely chop it, and add it to the dry herbs.
7. When all these are ready, we can start to marinate the chicken
8. Coat the chicken thoroughly with olive oil in a large tray.
9. The amount is not critical. The goal is to cover the chicken fully to protect it from drying during roasting.

Sprinkle the salt on both sides of the chicken. Then the ground black pepper. Give it a good rub to ensure to cover the entire surface.

Why do we apply the salt and pepper first? And only sprinkle the herbs on the chicken later?

We do this to let the salt and pepper penetrate the chicken without the obstruction by the herbs. If you combine everything, part of the salt will never reach the chicken.

As for the amount of salt, I use 12g per 1kg of chicken. Weigh the chicken to ensure that you are using the correct amount of salt.

How to do it:

1. Add some olive oil to the chicken.
2. Add the herbs, lemon zest and garlic to the chicken.
3. Lightly press it so that it will adhere on the surface, and seal all the salt and pepper beneath it. The herbs will still stick on the chicken when you flip over the chicken to season the other side.
4. Try not to expose the meat as it will turn dry. The skin will shrink slightly after marinating in the refrigerator. It will be difficult to pull it back to the original position to cover the chicken meat.
5. Keep the chicken in a ziplock bag or a large tray cover with cling film. We put the marinated chicken on a large baking tray and cover with cling film whenever we are making a larger quantity.
6. Add some more oil to prevent it from becoming dry in the refrigerator.
7. Store in the refrigerator overnight.

Prepare the chicken legs for roasting

Remove the chicken legs from the refrigerator on the next day.

Let it return to room temperature (or least one hour) before roasting it. If you roast the cold chicken legs immediately, there is a high tendency that the skin will break.

Cover the tip of each leg with aluminum foil as it will get burn quickly.

Roasting

1. Place the chicken on the wire rack. The rack elevates the chicken to achieve more even cooking. It also prevents the chicken skin from sticking on the roasting tray.
2. Line the roasting tray with aluminum foil. It is so easy to clean up the tray if you do this.
3. Start roasting the chicken legs at 190°C for 30-35 minutes, skin side down.
4. Open the door of the oven. Baste with some oil and turns the chicken over.
5. Roast at 220°C for another 15 minutes, skin side up.
6. Use a kitchen thermometer to test the doneness of the chicken. Pierce the thermometer to the thickest part of the meat, down to the bone. Add a few more minutes if necessary so that the internal temperature is at 85°C/185°F. When you remove the thermometer, there will be some juice oozing out without any trace of blood.

Important

The doneness of the roast chicken legs is one of the critical aspects that to pay attention. The chicken won’t be juicy if you roast it until it reaches only at 75°C/165°F, the minimum safe temperature to cook the chicken. It requires a higher temperature to make it happen. Also, test on two different parts and down to the bone to ensure it reaches the desired temperature.

Remove the chicken from the oven. Let it rest for fifteen minutes before serving.

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2. The roast potatoes

1. Peel and cut the potatoes in wedges. Place it in a pot of water, bring it to a boil.
2. Cook the potato wedges until soft, that is when you can pierce a toothpick into it with ease. Do not overcook the potatoes (said up to 80% cook) as we will roast them subsequently.
3. Drain the potatoes. Place them on a large tray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Pour some olive oil onto the potatoes. Grab some remaining marinade from the chicken (a mixture of rosemary, thyme, ground black pepper, mashed garlic) and combine well with the potatoes.
5. Roast at 230°C for fifteen to twenty minutes. Open the oven door to give it a good mix. Continue roasting for another ten minutes or until the edges start to turn color. The potatoes are crispy on the outside but still soft inside by now.

3. Prepare the Asian vegetables

We are using a set of Asian vegetable to replace to conventional salad served alongside the chicken.

The vegetables we use are Shitake mushroom, carrot sticks (cut to julienne), slices of lotus root, broccoli florets, snow peas, and cherry tomato. They are all arranged by sticking to a bed of mashed potato.

1. I am using the fresh Shiitake mushroom, which is quite soft. If you are using the dry mushroom, you need to soak it in water until it is fully hydrated. It may take a few hours of soaking until it turns soft, or you can soak it in hot water to speed up the process. Cut a cross on the cap of the mushroom to form a pattern.
2. Cut the carrot into julienne.
3. Cut some broccoli florets.
4. Slice the lotus root into thin slices.
5. Remove the thin string of the snow peas.
6. Get prepare some cheery tomatoes for garnishing.

How to cook:

• Blanch the vegetables in boiling water- broccoli florets and mushroom (3 minutes), lotus root slices and carrots sticks (2 minutes), snow peas (1 minute).
• Remove and drained.  Shock with ice water if you intend to use it later.
• Add the vegetables and two tablespoons of chicken stock, stir and cook until the chicken stock dries up.
• Add some roast chicken oil from the roasting pan to mix with the vegetables,
• Place some mashed potatoes on the plate. Arrange the vegetable by sticking in on the bed of potatoes.

The Roast Chicken Legs Recipe