Smoky ancho chicken with sticky onions, whipped tahini & pomegranate

Method

• step 1

  Heat the oven to 240C/220C fan/gas 9. Take the chicken out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.

• step 2

  To make the rub, heat a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic cloves, still in their skins, and cook for 6-7 mins until the skins have blackened and the garlic is soft. Add the fennel and cumin seeds, toast gently for 1 min, then pour in the ancho chilli flakes. Toast for 10 seconds more, then empty the lot into a small blender or pestle and mortar, slipping the skins from the garlic. Pound or blitz to a paste with the cinnamon, brown sugar and 1½ tsp salt, before stirring through the orange juice and olive oil. Rub this all over the chicken pieces.

• step 3

  Toss the onion wedges and potatoes in a large baking tray with 2 tbsp of the olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 mins before popping the chicken on top of the vegetables, tossing the whole lot with the excess adobo, the pomegranate molasses and the rest of the olive oil. Roast for 15 mins in the middle of the oven, then reduce the oven temperature to 210C/190C fan/gas 6½ and roast for another 15 mins. Season to taste.

• step 4

  Meanwhile, make the whipped tahini. Simply blitz all the ingredients in a small food processor with 120ml water until the mixture is light and blousy.

• step 5

  Serve the chicken on a large plate in the middle of the table, with the whipped tahini spooned in a circle around the edge of the plate, the chicken in the middle and the whole lot scattered with parsley and a drizzle more of the pomegranate molasses.