A touch of zest to a tried-and-true recipe

Once the basics have been mastered, it’s time to get creative in the kitchen

One of the benefits of repeating the same cooking technique over and over is that once you’ve mastered the basics, you can get creative with the fine points. For example, there’s my ever-adaptable, always-quick roasted chicken thighs with whatever-you-have vegetables.

The core recipe is beyond simple, the kind of thing that fits in a tweet with characters to spare: “Oil up bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs & cut up veggies, season w/salt & pepper & spices, roast at 425 for 30ish minutes.”

I’ve made this dozens of times in every season of the year, varying the vegetables and spices to suit my mood and refrigerator inventory. Just take thighs (or drumsticks if you like) and add broccoli with cumin, or car- rots with thyme sprigs, or sweet potatoes and cinnamon. The dish always works well, and I can throw it together on autopilot while chatting with my mother on the phone.

But there are nights when I have the mental energy and focus to experiment. And then I can really play.

Such was the case with a recent meal of roasted thighs with delicata squash and coriander seeds. Instead of leaving well enough alone, I decided to mix slices of lemon in with the chicken. They add the same bright acidity as lemon juice, but you also get a gentle sweetness from the zest as the slices caramelize. To tone down the bitterness of the pith, I quickly blanched the lemon slices first.

And along with the coriander seeds, I threw in chopped sage to provide some herbal matter.

All these tweaks would have surely been enough for a fine dinner, but I was having too much fun to stop there. So next I thought of what I could do with the squash other than just brushing it with oil. Something sweet would contrast nicely with the lemon, so I chose maple syrup. But before tossing it with the squash, I simmered it down to a thick glaze to concentrate its autumnal essence (one of those excellent chef-taught tips that I actually use).

Then, halfway through the cooking, I threw some oiled scallions into the pan. This gave them just enough time to soften and mellow without burning.

In the end, the dish was fussier than my usual dinner and much too long for a tweet. But it was worth every extra step, and character, too.

ANDREW SCRIVANI/ THE NEW YORK TIMES Roasted Chicken Thighs with Delicata Squash includes lemon slices, scallions and an assortment of spices — putting a new spin on chicken thighs with veggies.