Almost Diana's Henry Chicken with Mashed Veggies

There are several recipes with baked chicken in "From the Oven to the Table: Simple Dishes That Look After Themselves" by Diana Henry, who won a prestigious James Beard Award in March 2016. "Diana is the Sunday Telegraph’s food writer and has a column in Stella, the newspaper’s magazine. She also writes a monthly column in BBC Good Food Magazine and writes regularly for House & Garden and Red. Diana was named Cookery Writer of the Year in both 2013 and 2015’s prestigious Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink Awards. She has also three times been awarded ‘Cookery Journalist of the Year’ by the Guild of Food Writers. A Change of Appetite was named Guild of Food Writers Cookery Book of the Year 2015. Recent broadcasts have included a dedicated two part special on Diana Henry on BBC Radio 4 The Food Programme and she is a regular on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour." - from Diana Henry's site 

Using Diana's recipes, I created my own recipe for chicken and mashed veggies. Chicken is really good, but mashed veggies are the perfect side dish for many occasions.

Spicy rub

1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground sumac
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
3 garlic cloves, finely grated
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

Veggies and Chicken

4 small-medium  red potatoes, scrubbed, quartered
1/2 large red onion, cut into medium chinks
2 cups small cauliflower florets
1 larger red pepper, quartered
about 6 moist prunes (more is fine)
1 preserved lemon
1½ tablespoons brine from the jar (optional)
4 good-sized skin-on bone-in chicken thighs, excess skin neatly trimmed
2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro leaves (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a medium deep baking pan with oil, place aluminum foil in it and spray with non-stick baking spray

In a bowl, mix together all ingredient of spicy rub.

In a big bowl, mix potato chunks, cauliflower florets, red pepper stripes, and onion. Take 1/2 teaspoon of spice mixture and rub into vegetables. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and mix again. Remove the flesh from the preserved lemon and add to a veggie mixture. Mix again and place veggies on a foil. Add prunes.

Mix the chicken thighs with rest of spice mixture, rubbing it all over. Set the chicken on top of vegetables, skin side up.

Cook for 45 minutes, taking the dish out and scooping the cooking juices up over the chicken a couple of times. You should end up with dark, golden chicken and tender vegetables.

Take dish out of oven, place chicken and prunes into medium bowl. Prepare a deep bowl and pour vegetables with juices into bowl. Using immersion mixer, mash the veggies. If you feel mixture is dry, add some brine liquid from the jar with preserved lemons. Check for salt and pepper.

Serve chicken, mashed veggies, and prunes immediately. If you like cilantro, sprinkle dish with chopped cilantro.