Slow-baked Aromatic Chicken

This is a speedier version of an Italian recipe from Orvieto. The beauty of this dish is that you can stick it in the oven and forget about it for 90 minutes. Don't panic at the amount of garlic, it turns sweet and mild as it bakes, and the meat ends up meltingly tender. If there's any left over, you can take the meat off the bone and use it in a pasta sauce the next day.

Serves 6: 6 chicken legs, each cut into 2 pieces, 220g (1 cup) cherry tomatoes, halved, 24 cloves of garlic (no need to skin them),100g (1 cup) black olives, stoned, large handful fresh basil, olive oil.

Heat the oven to 350F/180C/gas 4. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper, and pack tightly, in a single layer, into a roasting tin. Scatter over the halved tomatoes, black olives, garlic and chopped basil. Pour over a fine line of olive oil. Bake the dish for around 90 minutes, until the chicken is very tender and falling off the bone. Serve with new potatoes or pasta. Leave the garlic cloves whole, and let people squish out the juicy innards with their forks as they eat.