CHICKEN ON A BED OF VEGETABLES

Steps:

• Prepare the vegetables first, as described above. Use a large, roomy oven dish, and grease well. I prefer butter to grease with. Whether you use skinless or skin-on thighs is your choice, but use bone-in and skin-on for more flavour.
• Preheat oven to 350 deg F/ 180 deg Celsius.
• In a bowl whisk together the mustard, sugar, olive oil, sherry and water. (Don't skimp on the olive oil, rather use more than 2 T, especially if using skinless thighs, as you don't want the meat to dry out).
• Layer the sliced potatoes in the bottom of the dish, then season lightly with seasoning salt and some black pepper. Scatter over the mushrooms and parsley, and season very lightly again.
• Then layer over the chopped green beans. They should be sliced thinly into rounds, and really, fresh is best here. I find frozen beans take longer to cook. Lastly: layer over the chopped onion. Season lightly.
• Arrange the chicken thighs in one layer on top of the veggies. Spoon the sauce evenly over the thighs, season lightly on top with seasoning salt and pepper, and sprinkle about 1 tablespoon crumbs evenly over each thigh.
• Cut off just the very top off the garlic bulb, so most of the tops of the cloves are exposed. Put this in the centre of the dish, and spoon a teaspoon of olive oil over the bulb.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour or slightly more, open. (If using skinless thighs, cover the dish with foil for the 1st half of baking time).
• To test, stick a fork through the veggies underneath the chicken. If it goes through with no resistance, the dish is done.
• Use scissors or a sharp knife to slit the skin of the roast garlic cloves, then squeeze the paste over each crispy thigh and spread it with a knife. Sinfully delicious! Save the leftover roast garlic, wrapped, to eat on toast.