Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for pan-roast chicken with butter bean mash

This recipe is in memory of my late ex-husband, the academic Ken Millard, who used to pan-fry chicken par excellence and who gave me the idea for the first Roasting Tin book. This is the version I made for our honeymoon in Paris, adding rosemary, garlic and lemon, and using the same trick as for crisp-skinned duck: you start off the chicken skin side down in a cold pan on the hob, then flip it over and finish in a hot oven. It’s an easy weeknight dish, and works beautifully with the lemon-spiked butter bean mash and greens. A great dish for a wonderful man.

Weeknight pan-roast chicken with butter bean mash and greens

You will need a medium-sized, ovenproof frying pan or small casserole dish.

Prep 15 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 2

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Sea salt flakes
40g salted butter, cubed
1 tbsp olive oil
4 strips lemon zest
4-5 sprigs rosemary
5 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed

For the butter bean mash
90ml olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced
Juice and finely grated zest of 1 lemon
700g jar butter beans (or 2 x 400g tins), drained and rinsed

For the greens
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp fennel seeds
200g rainbow chard, roughly sliced
Juice of ½ lemon

Trim off any excess fat and skin around the edges of the chicken thighs, leaving all the skin on top, then cut three deep slashes down to the bone in each thigh. Season the skin liberally with a teaspoon of sea salt in total, then set aside for five minutes.

Heat the oven to 230C (210C fan)/450F/gas 8. Lay the chicken thighs skin side down in a medium-sized ovenproof frying pan, then put the pan on a medium heat. Leave the chicken to cook undisturbed for 10 minutes, then flip over so it’s skin side up. Tuck the butter, oil, lemon zest, rosemary and garlic in between the thighs and, as soon as the butter melts, baste all over the crisped skin. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast for 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Meanwhile, make the butter bean mash. Put the olive oil, garlic and lemon zest in a large frying pan on a very low heat, and warm for three to four minutes – you’re not aiming to get any colour on the garlic.

Put the butter beans in a high-speed blender or food processor, then tip in the infused oil, garlic and lemon zest, using a spatula to scrape everything out of the pan. Add the lemon juice and a teaspoon of sea salt flakes if you’re using tinned beans (jarred are quite salty already, so you will most likely not need any extra), then blitz very smooth.

Once the chicken is cooked, take the pan out of the oven and let it rest for five minutes.

Meanwhile, for the greens, put the olive oil in a saucepan on a medium heat, add the chilli flakes and fennel seeds, and fry for 30 seconds. Add the chard, stir-fry for four to five minutes, until softenedthen season with a half-teaspoon of salt and the lemon juice, adding more of each as you wish.

Put the butter bean mash in a saucepan and heat it through gently, then serve with the chicken and the greens alongside.