RECIPE | Roast chicken with corn & piquillo salsa

This sweet-sour marinade takes roast chicken to the next level. 

ROAST CHICKEN WITH CORN & PIQUILLO SALSA

Preparation and cooking time:  1 hour and 20 minutes (plus refrigeration and standing)

Serves: 4

Cook's notes:

To check the chicken is cooked, insert a skewer into the thickest part of the thigh; the juices will be clear.

Make the piquillo* sauce a day ahead and marinate the chicken.

Ingredients

250g jar piquillo peppers in oil*

1 bunch fresh coriander (100g)

4 chicken legs (whole leg including thigh and drumstick), about 1.4kg total weight

175g butter

4 corn cobs (1kg)

1 medium red onion (170g)

2 tablespoons white vinegar

¼ teaspoon caster sugar

Method

1. Drain piquillo peppers; reserve the oil. Wash coriander well, paying particular attention to the roots. Remove roots; chop coarsely. Pick leaves from stems; reserve leaves and stems separately. Process coriander roots with half the piquillo peppers and 1/4 cup reserved oil into a smooth sauce. Season to taste.

2. Cut four diagonal slashes across the skin side of each chicken leg joint. Place in a large roasting pan; rub piquillo sauce on skin of chicken. Finely chop 50g butter; place on chicken. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

3. Coarsely chop reserved coriander stems; process with remaining 125g butter until smooth and butter is green flecked. Season. Reserve 2 tablespoons coriander butter to serve.

4. Pull husks back from the corn cobs, leaving them attached. Remove silks, discard. Rinse corn, allowing the husks to get wet; pat dry with paper towel. Rub coriander butter over corn kernels. Fold the husks back in place and tie with kitchen string to secure.

5. For the salsa, thinly slice onion. Place onion in a small bowl with vinegar, a pinch of salt and the sugar. Stand for 30 minutes for onion to soften and pickle. Finely chop remaining coriander, cut remaining piquillo peppers into strips; stir into the onion.

6. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan.

7. Roast chicken for 20 minutes. Baste chicken with pan juices, add corn to roasting pan. Roast for a further 30 minutes or until chicken is golden and cooked through. Skim off excess fat from pan juices. Serve chicken with pan juices, onion salsa and corn cobs topped with reserved butter.

* Piquillo peppers are a type of chilli with no heat and a sweet taste. You can use chargrilled capsicum from the supermarket deli instead.