We eat quite a bit of chicken, ok, a lot of chicken. Mostly thighs, but also breasts and whole chicken. Chicken wings and drumsticks we rarely eat, unless as a by product of roasting a whole chicken, and even then they quite often end up in the stock pot, or pulled apart for shredded chicken for another meal.

I’m not quite sure why – we certainly had them often when I was a child in stews and so on. I think it’s partly that the bone to meat ratio isn’t as good, so you need more of them than thighs for example, and they also need longer cooking to be truly succulent; I also don’t much like the skin when they’re cooked in liquid.

So I won’t drag out the anticipation! As you can see here, I’ve discovered a recipe that solves all these problems, and also offers up the additional magic that chicken drumsticks have exactly the right amount of fat to develop a perfectly crisp outer coating when dusted with flour, without any additional fat or liquid needed. Sometimes in fact, we just bake the drumsticks with seasoned flour without adding the glaze, which is also great, and even quicker.

You could very easily switch the seasoning on this – five spice powder for the paprika, soy for the lime and spring onions for the coriander for a Chinese style seasoning, or coriander/cumin, preserved lemon, pomegranate molasses and no ginger for a vaguely Middle Eastern version.

Quick lime glazed chicken drumsticks

Adapted slightly from a recipe in Bill Granger Everyday

• 8-10 chicken drumsticks
• 2 Tbs plain flour
• 2 tsp paprika
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 red onion
• 1 lime
• approx 1-2 cm piece fresh ginger
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 Tbs honey
• 125 ml chicken stock (from powder/cube is fine)
• fresh coriander to garnish

Preheat oven to 220C. Add flour, paprika and a large pinch each of salt and pepper to the bag or container you bought the drumsticks in, and shake to coat the chicken well. Lay out evenly in a large baking dish. Slice the onion into thin wedges, and scatter over the chicken. Bake for 20 minutes.

While the chicken is baking, slice the lime into thin wedges. Grate or finely chop the ginger and garlic, and combine with the honey and stock. After 20 minutes, turn over the chicken, add the lime, and pour over the stock mixture. Bake for another 10-20 minutes until the chicken is crisp and well browned. Scatter with roughly chopped coriander.

If the glaze is too thick to spoon over when serving, just add a little water and stir well, or toss the vegetables in the dish once the chicken is served to collect all the lovely juices.

Serve with rice and steamed broccoli or other greens.