I’ve often thought that fresh bay leaves were a rather underused herb. The way I’ve used them in the past is to add one or two leaves to a stew, soup or marinade or maybe to decorate the top of a pâté. Here I thought I’d bring their savoury yet floral taste to the fore. Luckily I have an abundance of fresh bay in the garden.
Use a baking dish in which the chicken thighs will fit snugly. I used 21cm x 15cm enamel dish. The quantities given serve 2 but could easily be scaled up. Of course you could eat these bacon wrapped chicken thighs as a hot dish from the oven but I think the bay flavour is improved by serving cold/room temperature. Tasted blind, it might be hard to pinpoint the delicious subtle flavour imparted by the bay, since we aren't used to this herb being to the fore. I like to serve the salad on individual plates for each person (as shown in the photos).
Note: normally I bake chicken thighs for a shorter time at a higher heat but I wanted more time for the bay to infuse the bacon and chicken, so this dish is cooked longer at 170C.
Ingredients (serves 2)
For the chicken thighs:
3 medium chicken thighs (skin on, bone in)
7 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
Enough bay leaves to generously cover the base of your baking tin, plus a few more for each chicken thigh
150ml of chicken stock (or enough to come up half way up the chicken thighs)
Salad leaves of your choice (I used baby cos and watercress)
1 or 2 radishes per person, very finely sliced
For the oil free dressing (serves 2)
8 tbsp kefir yoghurt or Greek style yoghurt
1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp honey (or to taste)
Method
Use a baking dish in which the chicken thighs will fit snugly. I used 21cm x 15cm enamel dish. The quantities given serve 2 but could easily be scaled up. Of course you could eat these bacon wrapped chicken thighs as a hot dish from the oven but I think the bay flavour is improved by serving cold/room temperature. Tasted blind, it might be hard to pinpoint the delicious subtle flavour imparted by the bay, since we aren't used to this herb being to the fore. I like to serve the salad on individual plates for each person (as shown in the photos).
Note: normally I bake chicken thighs for a shorter time at a higher heat but I wanted more time for the bay to infuse the bacon and chicken, so this dish is cooked longer at 170C.
Ingredients (serves 2)
For the chicken thighs:
3 medium chicken thighs (skin on, bone in)
7 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
Enough bay leaves to generously cover the base of your baking tin, plus a few more for each chicken thigh
150ml of chicken stock (or enough to come up half way up the chicken thighs)
Salad leaves of your choice (I used baby cos and watercress)
1 or 2 radishes per person, very finely sliced
For the oil free dressing (serves 2)
8 tbsp kefir yoghurt or Greek style yoghurt
1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp honey (or to taste)
Method
- Heat the oven to 170C
- Generously cover the base of your baking dish with bay leaves.
- Loosen the skin of the chicken thighs and tuck a bay leaf (or two) underneath against the flesh. Wrap one rasher of bacon around each chicken thigh so that parts of the chicken skin are exposed.
- Place the thighs on the bed of bay leaves and pour on the stock. Tuck the remaining rashers of bacon around the edges.
- Bake uncovered for 75mins. Most of the stock will evaporate.
- Remove the thighs and allow to cool. Unwrap the bacon which should be nice and curly. Cut the bacon into bite sized pieces.
- Remove the bay leaves from under the chicken skin and cut the chicken off the bone.
- In a small bowl mix together all the ingredients for the dressing.
- Serve the pieces of bay infused chicken and bacon over a bed of salad leaves scattered with sliced radishes and drizzle the dressing over.
