Chipotle-black garlic barbecue chicken with maple cornbread

In the spirit of minimal faff, I’ve worked this recipe out so that the chicken and cornbread cook at the same time and thus the temperature starts high so that the chicken gets a nice, crispy skin.  

If you're making the cornbread by itself, bake it at a lower temperature; 190C fan until golden-brown on top and a skewer or knife poked into the centre comes out clean (40-50 mins). 

I’ve kept the cornbread recipe super simple but feel free to fold in chopped herbs like chives, coriander or spring onion or pieces of feta once the batter has been blitzed.

Ingredients Serves 4

4 chicken drumsticks

4 skin on, bone in chicken thighs

2 small bunches spring onions, ends trimmed

Barbecue sauce

120g maple syrup

80g black garlic paste (or black garlic cloves, crushed into a paste)

40g chipotle paste (or less if you don’t like too much heat)

50g tamari soy sauce

30g Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp rice vinegar

½ tsp fine sea salt

Quick pickled onions

1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced

Juice of 1 tangerine (use zest in cornbread)

Juice of 1 lime (use zest in cornbread)

¼ tsp fine sea salt

Cornbread

220g Greek-style yoghurt

150g ghee (from a jar not a tin), melted and cooled a little

130g maple syrup 

3 large eggs

500g frozen corn, defrosted

130g quick-cook polenta 

120g plain flour 

25g fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated

2 tbsp medium curry powder 

Zest of 1 lime and 1 tangerine

1 tsp fine sea salt 

¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

¾  tsp baking powder

Method

Whisk all the barbecue sauce ingredients together. 

Add the chicken to a baking tray with ½ tsp fine sea salt and 100g of the barbecue sauce. Mix well, then arrange the chicken skin side up and spaced apart. Leave to marinate while you prep the cornbread.

In a small bowl, mix the onion together with the citrus juices and salt and set aside to pickle.

Preheat the oven to 220C fan.

Line and grease a 25 x 25cm tin.

Add all the cornbread ingredients to a food processor or blender in the order listed (i.e. wet ingredients first) and blitz until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Spoon into the lined tin.

Place the chicken on the top shelf of the oven (not too close to the top) and the cornbread on the shelf below it.

Bake for 20 mins, then reduce the oven temperature to 160C fan. Remove the chicken and spoon more (uncooked) barbecue sauce over each chicken piece. Rotate the cornbread so it colours evenly. 

Return the chicken to the oven and continue to cook both chicken and cornbread on their respective shelves for another 30 mins. Remove both from the oven and leave to rest for 15 mins.

Heat a frying pan on a high heat. Toss the spring onions with a little oil and salt and spread out in the pan. Cook until nicely charred on both sides.

Add 50g maple syrup, 20g ghee, ¼ tsp curry powder and ⅛ tsp salt to a small saucepan and gently warm, swirling the pan. Pour evenly over the cornbread.

Transfer the chicken and spring onions to a platter and squeeze over plenty of fresh lime and tangerine juice. Serve with cornbread and more of the barbecue sauce alongside. Pair with iced tea.