Roasted Chicken Thighs with Garlic & Tarragon

Roast chicken: the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good- you really have to ask? It's roast chicken! Succulent, juicy flesh surrounded in crisp skin, permeated with the flavors of marinade. The bad- 40 minutes of cooking plus learning how to truss it (tie it up), risking food poisoning from underheated stuffing, figuring out how to carve it attractively, wasting half of it because you're only cooking for two. The ugly- sticking your hand in a chicken's bum, and pulling out the fat surrounding the cavity. Yuk!

Sometimes though, it has to be done. A roast chook is a roast chook and you can't replicate the experience. Or can you? Whilst maybe not so impressive as presenting the table with a beautifully golden trussed bird, this recipe for roasted chicken thighs with garlic and tarragon maintains the essence of roast chicken but is easier and faster to prepare, whilst allowing you to easily cater to just one or for 200 people.

Ingredients (for 2)

• 4 chicken thighs, skin on and bone in (ask your poultry provider, it's strange that they're never out the front anymore!)
• 8 large cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 cup - 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tbsp dried tarragon or 1 small bunch fresh tarragon
• 4 tsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 240 degrees. 
Using your finger, separate the skin of the thighs from the flesh to form a pocket. Don't completely remove the skin from the flesh, and try not to pierce the skin

Rub about half of the tarragon into the chicken beneath the skin on all four thighs

Coat the thighs lightly with olive oil and place in a baking dish just large enough to fit the thighs with a bit of space.

Scatter the garlic cloves around the edges of the chicken.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper

Transfer to the oven for 15 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 200 after 10 minutes.
Remove the chicken and pour in enough chicken stock to come about 2cm up the side of the dish.

Scatter the remaining tarragon over the chicken.
Return to oven for a further 10 minutes.
Let sit for 5 minutes
Serve with potatoes and vegetables.