Thomasina Miers' recipe for chicken legs with radicchio, pancetta and rosemary

As working from home continues inexorably, my cooking is morphing. I still cook feasts for special occasions, but for the everyday, I lean on recipes with few ingredients, minimal fuss and a flexible outcome. The recipe below takes little time to prepare and the results are delicious with a salad of braised greens, shredded into pasta, popped into a puff pastry pie or even bubble and squeak. Rich pickings.

Falling-apart chicken legs with radicchio, pancetta and rosemary

Prep this when you have 10 minutes free, and keep in the fridge ready to bake. The chicken fat oozes out into the potatoes and radicchio, creating a mouthwatering dish.

Prep 10 min
Cook 1 hr 15 min
Serves 2-4

1 head radicchio, roughly shredded
1 large red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
80g thin slices pancetta, cut in half across the middle
800g potatoes, sliced thinly (use a mandoline, if you have one)
A few sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked
4 chicken legs
150ml double cream
6 tbsp good olive oil

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Put all the ingredients except the chicken, cream and a tablespoon of the oil into a large roasting dish, and season. Mix thoroughly with your hands and spread out evenly.

Rub the chicken legs all over with the reserved oil, then season , pop on top of the potatoes and bake for an hour.

Remove from the oven, pour over the cream and turn up the heat to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7. Return the dish to the oven for a final 10-15 minutes, by which time the cream will be bubbling and the chicken golden. Serve immediately with a crisp, green salad.

And for the rest of the week …

I hoard stock, particularly as it is said to be so good at fighting off bugs. When you buy the chicken for this, ask your butcher for extra wings and giblets to cook up with the bones after the dish is finished. Or use a whole jointed bird instead.