Broiled spicy chicken with herbed potatoes and pearl onions

Summer is here and it’s grilling season once again. Here is a recipe for chicken and an accompanying side dish of potatoes and pearl onions that can be cooked in an outdoor grill or in a convection oven including a turbo broiler. Preparation takes little time and is practically mess-free. Clean-up is a breeze too as very few cooking utensils are needed.

The chicken is spicy but still child-friendly. The potatoes and pearl onion side dish is a dream.  

Serves four.

Ingredients:

4 chicken leg quarters, a total of 1 kg.

For the seasoning:

8 cloves (segments) of a large garlic, peeled and grated
2 tsps. of paprika
2 tsps. of cayenne powder
3 tsps. of salt
2 tsps. of ground black pepper
4 tbsps. of olive oil

For the herbed potatoes and pearl onion side dish:

4 to 6 potatoes, about 500 g., washed and scrubbed, and cut into bite-sized pieces
about 16 pearl onions, peeled but left whole
juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsps. of olive oil
a handful of fresh rosemary, stripped and stalks discarded
salt
pepper

Mix all the seasoning ingredients and rub on the chicken leg quarters. Place the chicken in a covered container and leave in the fridge to absorb the flavors for at least six hours.

In a bowl, toss together all the ingredients for the side dish.

To cook, arrange the chicken leg quarters on a rack. Spread the vegetables in a heat-proof tray then position the tray underneath the chicken. Cook at the same time so that the drippings from the chicken fall directly into the vegetables. They’re all done in 30 minutes or so.

Notes:

1. I used a turbo broiler to cook this dish. If you decide to use an outdoor grill, you will need to cook the chicken and vegetables on the same rack (put the vegetables nearer the heat and they will get terribly overdone or even get burned). To get the same effect, use a tray to catch the chicken drippings then pour over the cooked veggies and toss before serving.

2. If using a grill, you will need to flip the chicken over about halfway through the cooking time.

3. You don’t need to use all the chicken drippings if the amount of fat worries you. I strained as much of the oil as possible before serving the vegetables.