Easy Roast Chicken Legs with Mushroom Sauce Recipe (2024)

This is simplicity at its' perfection - I used Thomas Keller's famous yet extremely easy recipe for roast chicken for today's feature and words just cannot describe how much I loved the roast chicken legs I made. The skin was crispily golden while the meat underneath was still tender and moist, what more can you ask for in a roast chicken orin this case, roast chickenlegs? To be honest, I was a little worried that the chicken would be a little dry due to the sheer minimalism of the recipe andprobably because of the absence of any basting liquids in the recipe, hence the mushroom sauce I made but the chicken was really just good on its' own and a sauce is really not needed although it could be a nice alternative for your sauce-loving guests :O.

The secret to achieving Keller's perfectly simple roast chicken I think is to make sure that you remove as much of the chicken's moisture as possible and also refrain from adding butter or other liquids to marinate the chicken as we do not want any steam in the oven while the chicken is roasting. Only salt is required (and just a little freshly grinded black pepper) and it's just so amazing what salt can do on its' own -I admit I was rather tempted to add some butter before roasting but I quelled myautomatic tendencies and decided to follow his recipe to utterly delightful results. The mushroom sauce I made was a simple affair where I used butter, mushrooms (of course!), a splatter of red wine and my little 'secret', the juices from the chicken after the legs were roasted. I consider myself a newbie at roasting chicken, so if I can do it, anyone can - seriously, you have to try Thomas Keller's recipe at least once.

It may be my personal preference, but I prefer Keller's recipe to the roast chickenI made adapting Jamie Oliver's recipe although with the latter, you get the delicious vegetables together with the chicken all in one pan, so really it's up to you which one you prefer.

Recipe adapted from Epicurious (by Thomas Keller).

Roast Chicken Legs:

Ingredients:

6 whole chicken legs (remove moisture as much as possible with paper/ kitchen towels)
2 tbsps salt
1 tsp sea salt
Dash of freshly grind black pepper

Enough oil to grease the pan
Italian parsley (optional), for garnish
Onions, cut into wedges androasted lightly,optional (for serving)

Mushroom Sauce:

Ingredients:

1 cup mushrooms, sliced or quartered
1 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 tbsp red wine
1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp corn flour
Juices from the roasting pan
Salt, to taste

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to about200 C (398F). Prepare a rack for roasting in the middle of your oven.

Lightly grease your roasting or baking pan. Rub the chicken thighs with salt both on top and underneath. Place on pan. Scatter the sea salt on top of the chicken thighs.

Place in oven once the oven is heated and roast for about 50-60 minutes.

Remove from oven. Strain the juices into a bowl or pot. Sprinkle some chopped parsley on top. Serve together with the roasted onions.

Prepare the mushroom sauce by sauteeing the onions and butter until aromatic. Add mushrooms. Stir-fry until soft. Add the wine, milk and juices from the roasting pan. Bring to a boil. Add the corn flour and stir well to mix. Bring to a boil. Add salt to taste. Remove from heat. Serve together with chicken legs.