There are some meals that stay in your kitchen because they’re easy, and then there are those that come with a story. These oven baked chicken legs with fried potatoes and garlic cottage cheese definitely belong to the second group.
My husband first made this dinner for me when I was pregnant with our son. And OMG, I was sold.
Completely.
Something about the chicken together with the garlicky cottage cheese and those fried potatoes just worked. It became a bit of a pregnancy craving, and for a while I was eating this dinner at least once a week.
The Combination I Couldn’t Get Enough Of
It wasn’t really one individual part of the meal that did it. It was eating everything together.
A piece of the lemony, garlicky chicken, some golden fried potato and a spoonful of cold cottage cheese with fresh garlic. That’s the combination. Even now, I don’t really want one without the others.
Sometimes I grate half a fresh cucumber into the cottage cheese as well. It makes it fresher and lighter, especially when I feel like changing the usual version slightly. Most of the time, though, we keep it simple with just fresh garlic and season our own portions with salt and black pepper at the table.
More Than 20 Years Later…
That pregnancy craving could very easily have disappeared along with all the other strange things that happen during pregnancy.
Except it didn’t.
More than 20 years later, we’re still making the same dinner. What started as something my husband cooked for me when I was pregnant with our son has simply become part of our family kitchen.
And now my daughter loves it too.
I think that’s one of my favourite things about food. You make something once without thinking much about it, then somehow you’re still putting the same meal on the table two decades later. At that point, it’s no longer just something you had for dinner. It’s part of your family’s food story.
One of Our Family Favourite Oven Baked Chicken Legs Dinners
I also love that this isn’t a particularly complicated dinner. The chicken goes into the oven, the potatoes are cooked and then fried until golden, and the cottage cheese takes almost no time to put together.
Nothing fancy, no long list of side dishes. But put those three things on one plate and, for me, it just works.
So if you’ve never tried oven baked chicken legs with fried potatoes and cold garlic cottage cheese, try them together at least once.
I might have discovered the combination because of a pregnancy craving, but more than 20 years later, I think we can safely say the craving wasn’t the only reason it was so good.
Oven Baked Chicken Legs with Fried Potatoes & Garlic Cottage Cheese
Course: Main CoursesDifficulty: Easy4
servings20
minutes50
minutes650
kcalIngredients
For the chicken
6 Chicken legs
A little extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion
3 garlic cloves
½ tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp salt
Black pepper with lemon zest or add fresh zest from one lemon yellow part only
Juice of ½ lemon
Thyme
For the potatoes
1kg Potatoes
Salt, for the cooking water
Oil/fat for frying
For the garlic cottage cheese
400–500 g plain cottage cheese
2–3 fresh garlic cloves, minced – depends how strong you want it to be
Salt and black pepper
½ green cucumber, grated (optional)
Directions
- Prepare the chicken marinade.
Add the extra virgin olive oil, onion, garlic, sweet paprika, salt, black pepper with lemon zest, lemon juice to a blender. Blend until combined. - Marinate the chicken.
Place the chicken legs on a baking tray or in a cast-iron dish. Sprinkle with thyme, then rub the marinade all over the chicken, making sure to get some under the skin as well as over the top. For the best flavour, marinate the chicken overnight, but if you don’t have time, it’s absolutely fine to cook it straight away. - Bake the chicken.
Bake at 180°C until the chicken is cooked through and nicely roasted. The thickest part of the chicken should reach at least 75°Cinternally. - Cook the potatoes.
Peel the potatoes and cut any particularly large ones in half. Place in salted water and cook until almost tender. They should be cooked enough to slice, but not so soft that they fall apart. - Cool and slice.
Drain the potatoes completely and leave them to cool slightly until they’re comfortable to handle. Slice them into fairly thick pieces. - Fry the potatoes. Heat a frying pan with your chosen cooking fat. Add the sliced potatoes and fry until beautifully golden and crisp on the outside.
- Make the garlic cottage cheese.
Mix the cottage cheese with the freshly minced garlic. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. If you’re using the cucumber, grate half a green cucumber and mix it through the cottage cheese. - Serve everything together.
Serve the roasted chicken legs with the hot fried potatoes and cold garlic cottage cheese on the side.
Notes
- Marinating: For the best flavour, marinate the chicken overnight, but if you don’t have time, it’s absolutely fine to cook it straight away.
Lemon zest: Grate only the yellow part of the lemon zest, avoiding the bitter white pith underneath.
Potatoes: Don’t cook them until completely soft. They need to stay firm enough to slice and fry without falling apart.
Cottage cheese: Sometimes I add half a grated green cucumber for a fresher version.
