Hot Honey Chicken with Roast Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

• 8 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
• 900 g sweet potatoes, cut into wedges
• 60 g rocket
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• 150 g greek yoghurt
• 3 tbsp runny honey
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lime, juiced
• Crusty bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Tip the sweet potato wedges onto a large roasting tray, toss with 1 tbsp olive oil, and season generously with salt and pepper — sweet potatoes need more salt than you think to balance their sugar. Spread them in a single layer with space between each wedge; crowd the tray and they steam instead of roasting.
2. Roast for 20 minutes, until the undersides are starting to catch and the edges are turning deep orange.
3. Meanwhile, whisk the honey, chilli flakes, smoked paprika, grated garlic, lime juice and remaining 1 tbsp olive oil in a large bowl. The paprika and chilli want a moment to bloom — when the tray hits the oven, the oil carries the spice through the glaze and they taste of themselves rather than dusty straight from the jar. Watch the garlic once it's on the heat: grated garlic burns fast and turns bitter, so the honey and lime in the glaze are doing real work protecting it.
4. Pat the chicken thighs dry, season them well with salt and pepper, then turn them through the glaze until every piece is slick and coated. Dry chicken means the glaze grips; wet chicken means it slides off into the tray.
5. Nestle the chicken among the sweet potatoes in a single layer — don't crowd them, or the thighs will release water and poach in their own juices instead of taking on colour. Scrape every last drop of glaze onto the tray.
6. Roast for a further 20 to 25 minutes, turning the chicken once halfway, until the thighs are sticky, mahogany-burnished and cooked through (75°C at the thickest part), the glaze fragrant and just shy of catching, and the wedges tender with crisp tips. If the garlic in the glaze starts to look too dark, tent loosely with foil for the last 5 minutes.
7. Let the tray sit for 2 minutes off the heat so the glaze tightens and clings to the chicken rather than running off. Taste a wedge — adjust salt now, at the tray, not at the table.
8. Scatter the rocket and sliced spring onions over the hot tray so they wilt slightly in the residual heat, shower with chopped parsley, and bring it straight to the table with a bowl of cold Greek yoghurt for cooling the heat, crusty bread for mopping the sticky tray juices, and a dressed green salad alongside.