While Mrs J probably tries cooking a wider variety of food than your average person it is not strictly true that she never makes the same thing twice. Today she’s going to share her favourite method of cooking with y’all: The one pot method.

There will be few gasps of surprise and indeed considering her aversion to peeling, dicing and dirty dishes it is fairly unsurprising that this method is her favourite. It’s just so easy. And, which is the second and possibly the most important reason why this method rocks, you can vary it almost infinitely.

Chicken is always a cracker this way, especially on the bone. So this time Mrs J is cooking chicken with potatoes, red onion, garlic and thyme.

Step number one, find a good and thick oven proof pot with a lid.

Mrs J got hers years ago as a present from her Belle Mère. Proof, once more, that mothers-in-law are highly underrated. Coat the pot with some olive oil. Mind you, you only need a very thin coat. Also, set your oven to 225°C.

Get some potatoes and wash them carefully. Cut big potatoes in halves or thirds. If you have small potatoes, by all means keep them whole. You just need enough to make one layer in the pot. Add two or three cloves of garlic, peeled and cut in halves or thirds.

Get a red onion. Peel the onion and cut it in wedges. Add to the pot. Dribble a little bit of olive oil on everything. Be stingy with the oil. Add seasoning in the form of thyme, salt and pepper. A stingy tsp of thyme usually does it. Be decidedly unstingy with the salt and pepper. Toss everything in the pot to distribute flavors more evenly.

Get your cuts of chicken. Mrs J wholeheartedly recommends the thigh and club, preferably still joined. Cut off fat if it’s obviously hanging off the skin and meat. While you bank on fat from the chicken to flavour this dish, you don’t want too much fat. Season your chicken gustily with salt, pepper another stingy squirt of olive oil Add a scatter of thyme. Place on top of the veg in the pot.

Cover with the lid and cook in the oven for about 40 minutes. Remove the lid and check that potatoes are cooked soft and yummy in the chicken fat. Leave the cover off and the pot in the oven for another 15 minutes to brown the top of the chicken (if you have a lemony oven you might want to turn on the grill, but if you do make sure you watch that it doesn’t burn).

Plate the dish or just scatter some fresh thyme over everything and serve it your pot.

Some dijon or garlic mayonnaise is great with this. Enjoy, perhaps with a mixed salad.