Dining in . . .

Picture by Justine Tyerman

‘When your best friends — and their daughters (and sons for that matter) — are fabulous cooks, why go out to a restaurant?’ asks Justine Tyerman. ‘Nicki and daughter Anna cooked this delicious chicken dish for us recently. I loved the flavours of the dates, olives and capers, three of my favourite ingredients. . .’

Chicken with olives, dates and capers

Ingredients:

8 chicken legs, drumstick and thigh attached, skin on and scored 3 or 4 times to the bone (2kg)

5 garlic cloves, crushed

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15g fresh oregano and parsley, plus extra to serve

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

100g pitted green olives

60g capers, plus 2 tbsp of their juices

120g dried dates, pitted and quartered lengthways

2 bay leaves

120ml dry red wine

1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

Salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Place the chicken in a large glass bowl and add all of the remaining ingredients, apart from the wine and pomegranate molasses, along with 1 teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Gently mix everything together, cover the bowl and leave in the fridge to marinate for 1-2 days, stirring the ingredients a few times during the process.

2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C fan.

3. Spread the chicken legs out on an oven tray, along with all the marinade ingredients. Whisk together the wine and molasses and pour over the chicken. Place in the oven and cook for 50 minutes, basting two or three times, until the chicken is golden-brown on top and cooked through.

4. Remove from the oven, transfer everything to a large platter, sprinkle over some freshly-picked oregano leaves and parsley.

5. Serve.

• Serves four generously.