Rosemary and lemon chicken thighs with spinach and potato salad

In this week's recipe I'll be using chicken thighs as a cracking alternative to chicken breasts. Not only are chicken thighs richer and have more flavour, they are also a great deal cheaper. You just need to bone and skin yourself to save a little more money if you wish.

Thighs will cost from £3.29 per kg to £6 per kg for organic, whereas chicken breasts will range from £11.49 per kg to £18 per kg. That's a saving of at least £8 per kg and personally, I'd take thighs over breasts any day.

(That is, when it comes to chicken...)

Ingredients 1kg of free range chicken thighs (£3.38) 180g of baby spinach (£1)250g of cherry tomatoes (74p)1 large red onion (10p)1 lemon (23p)400g of new potatoes, buy loose (52p)25g of fresh rosemary (68p) The cupboard staples...

Salt and black pepper, 1 garlic clove, sugar and white wine vinegar.

Total cost

If you already have the cupboard staples, then according to mysupermarket.co.uk, this trolley was cheapest at Asda, where it came to £6.65 - that's just £1.67 per head!

Instructions Let's prep and get the chicken thighs marinating. Take out the bone of each thigh (just by running your knife both sides of the bone and then underneath the bone to remove) and remove the skin (or you could leave whole with bone and skin on - just score the skin a little to get the flavours in). Place the thighs in a marinade of chopped rosemary, the juice of one lemon, a glug of olive oil, black pepper and a pinch of salt. Try and let the flavours develop for a few hours - however it's not the end of the world if it's only for 20 minutes. As the salad is served cold (obviously!), it's best to clean the new potatoes and cook in a pan of boiling salted water next - once cooked, cut the potatoes length-ways and chill. Once the chicken thighs have marinated, place under the grill for 4 to 5 minutes on each side (or a bit longer if they look thick in parts). If you decided to leave the skin and bone on the thigh, just place in a hot oven at 200C for 25 to 30 minutes - finish on the grill to get the skin crisp. Whilst the chicken thighs are under the grill, we can put the salad together. Place the new potatoes, washed spinach leaves, finely sliced red onions and cherry tomatoes (sliced in half) into a large bowl.For the dressing, blend 12 tablespoons of olive oil, four tablespoons of white wine vinegar, one crushed clove of garlic, salt, black pepper and a pinch of sugar together. Pour the dressing over the salad in the bowl and mix gently with your hands. Now for plating up - place the salad in the centre of each plate and serve the hot chicken thighs on top. Happy eating!