Roasted chicken drumsticks
This recipe is from Homemade Happiness. Chicken drumsticks are underrated. They’re good value and packed with lots of chicken flavour; they also stay tender and moist while cooking. This is a quick drumstick recipe to prepare – just cram everything on to an oven tray and let the oven do the work. One of my husband’s favourites! The lemon slices cook and blacken slightly, and add a lovely subtle flavour (you can eat them if you want). But possibly the best thing about this dish is the garlic…the cloves turn into crunchy, sweet little caramelised bites of pure delight. If I can be bothered, at the end I sometimes make a quick gravy in the baking tray, and pour it over the drums on the serving dish.
Ingredients
1-2kg chicken drumsticks
1-2 whole heads of garlic, broken into cloves but left in their skins
1-2 peeled & quartered onions
2-3 stalk fresh rosemary, leaves pulled off and chopped
1 medium lemon, sliced very thinly
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 160c fan bake.
On a baking tray, arrange drumsticks, garlic, onions, rosemary leaves, and lemon.
Drizzle everything with the olive oil, and give it all a good toss to coat. Season generously with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Bake in the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the chicken is golden and crispy and everything else is caramelised. Baste the drums every 20 minutes or for max flavour and tenderness. Turn the oven up to 200c for 10 minutes or so at the end to caramelise everything if you need to.
Then you can make a gravy if you like, with 1 tbsp cornflour in a cup or so of water, heat on the element. Scrape up all those yummy bits from the bottom. Serve everything on a nice plate and tuck in!
This is lovely served with a fresh green salad, and maybe some new potatoes or creamy mash, or just crusty bread and butter; whatever you like. And the drumsticks (if there are any left) are FABULOUS cold for lunch the next day.