Sticky chicken with lemon and honey

Those of you with picky eaters at home will probably agree with me: it’s not easy and sometimes not pleasant at all to cook for them. :/ For that reason, when my husband requests something in particular for lunch or dinner I feel relieved – I know I won’t need to spend hours (and brain cells) thinking of the menu.

While watching Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers a couple of weeks ago we saw Nigel making golden and caramelized chicken pieces when Joao said: “how about that for lunch?” – I immediately agreed since we’re both crazy for roasted chicken. Nigel’s chicken is dead easy to make – the refrigerator and the oven do all the work – and turned out delicious, crunchy and sticky on the outside and absolutely tender and juicy on the inside, falling off the bone. It was so good that my husband placed it on the #1 spot with Donna Hay’s chicken baked with chorizo, which up to that day had been his favorite way of eating chicken.

Sticky chicken with lemon and honey
slightly adapted from the always wonderful Nigel Slater

4 large chicken pieces, bone in and skin on – use your favorite cuts
juice of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon runny honey
½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 garlic cloves, crushed into a paste
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
soft butter, for preparing the baking dish

Place the chicken in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together with a fork the lemon juice, honey, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper. Pour over the chicken, mix to coat all the pieces and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or at least for 4 hours.
Preheat the oven at 200°C/400°F. Line a baking dish with a double layer of foil and brush the foil with the butter.
Transfer the chicken to the prepared dish and pour over any left marinade. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until cooked to your liking – we like our chicken very golden brown, as you can see on the photo, so I baked it for 1 ½ hours.
Serve immediately.

Serves 2