Rosemary baked chicken legs with pumpkin "fries"

Pumpkin is in season and it will stay with us for a few months so lets see a simple but very hearty recipe to enjoy it in a different way. Feel free to substitute with butternut squash if you wish, it will still be delicious!

Recipe of Alexandros Papandreou,

"Gastronomos" magazine of "KATHIMERINI" newspaper (2009)


Ingredients (for 4 people):
4 whole chicken legs, skin on
600gr. of pumpkin (net weight), cut in sticks of 7cm long and 1cm thick
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary (or 1 tbsp of dried, well crushed)
2 tbsp of mild mustard
1 leveled tbsp of sweet paprika
4 tbsp of olive oil
salt
pepper

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Wash the legs well and dry with kitchen paper.

In a bowl put the mustard along with the paprika, salt, pepper and the olive oil and mix well with a fork.

Rub the chicken legs with some of this mixture very well on all sides and transfer into an oven pan in one layer. Arrange the rosemary sprigs among the legs or sprinkle on top if you use dried rosemary.

Mix the rest of the mustard mixture with the pumpkin sticks and then arrange them around and among the chicken legs.

Drizzle with some more olive oil on top and put in the oven initially cooking for 8 minutes at the 200°C. Then turn the temperature down to 175°C and continue cooking until the legs are cooked through forming a crispy skin and the pumpkin is tender.

Serve immediately on a platter pouring over with the sauce that will be left in the pan.