I'd never say anything bad about Saint Jamie, and here I was inspired by his recipe for this classic Italian chicken stew. But so often you can adapt a recipe if you don't have exactly what it asks for and rarely does anything too bad happen. And, since I still have Christmas port left over, and made a cracking Bolognese with some recently, I wondered how well it would work with the chicken.
Quite well, as it turned out.
Ingredients
1.5kg chicken bits - breast, thigh and wings were in this.
250ml port
250ml red wine
A handful of bay leaves
A handful of rosemary
A couple of handfuls of button mushrooms
Flour
Olive oil
Butter
2 onions, diced
A good squirt of garlic paste, or a couple of cloves sliced
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
A squirt of anchovy paste (salt would do, too)
2 handfuls of black olives
Rice
Over a medium-low heat, slowly fry the button musrooms (I did them whole, you can chop them) in butter. Add garlic to the pan when they begin to soften and shrink, and remove once cooked.
Marinate the chicken in red wine, port, herbs and garlic. Once done, dry them off. Jamie's recipe asks for them to be drained (reserve the marinade), dried then dredged in flour and pan-fried until brown in the casserole you'll be using to cook the dish. I tried some dredged and some not, and I honestly couldn't tell the difference and think you might end up just throwing flour around the kitchen. Which is fun!
So I browned in oil them over a medium-high heat, scraping at the base of the pan as I went to dislodge any black bits. Once all the chicken was browned, I added a knob of butter and fried the onions, over a higher heat than I normally would.
Once they were browning I added the boozy marinade, including herbs, to the onions in the casserole and scraped hard (use a wooden or plastic tool if you've got an enamelled pan) to remove the brown bits - or in the parlance of South Park, I deglazed the f*ck out of that pan.
Once the pan is nice and deglazed and the room smells delicious, squirt in a dollop of anchovy paste, give it a stir and add the chicken back in. Then add the tomatoes, mushrooms and olives.
Jamie cooks his in the oven at 180 - I tried on the the hob and in the oven, and I definitely got the best results in the oven, although I had to add a little cornflour to thicken the sauce. Season before serving...
I served this with rice and greens.
Quite well, as it turned out.
Ingredients
1.5kg chicken bits - breast, thigh and wings were in this.
250ml port
250ml red wine
A handful of bay leaves
A handful of rosemary
A couple of handfuls of button mushrooms
Flour
Olive oil
Butter
2 onions, diced
A good squirt of garlic paste, or a couple of cloves sliced
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
A squirt of anchovy paste (salt would do, too)
2 handfuls of black olives
Rice
Over a medium-low heat, slowly fry the button musrooms (I did them whole, you can chop them) in butter. Add garlic to the pan when they begin to soften and shrink, and remove once cooked.
Marinate the chicken in red wine, port, herbs and garlic. Once done, dry them off. Jamie's recipe asks for them to be drained (reserve the marinade), dried then dredged in flour and pan-fried until brown in the casserole you'll be using to cook the dish. I tried some dredged and some not, and I honestly couldn't tell the difference and think you might end up just throwing flour around the kitchen. Which is fun!
So I browned in oil them over a medium-high heat, scraping at the base of the pan as I went to dislodge any black bits. Once all the chicken was browned, I added a knob of butter and fried the onions, over a higher heat than I normally would.
Once they were browning I added the boozy marinade, including herbs, to the onions in the casserole and scraped hard (use a wooden or plastic tool if you've got an enamelled pan) to remove the brown bits - or in the parlance of South Park, I deglazed the f*ck out of that pan.
Once the pan is nice and deglazed and the room smells delicious, squirt in a dollop of anchovy paste, give it a stir and add the chicken back in. Then add the tomatoes, mushrooms and olives.
Jamie cooks his in the oven at 180 - I tried on the the hob and in the oven, and I definitely got the best results in the oven, although I had to add a little cornflour to thicken the sauce. Season before serving...
I served this with rice and greens.