Recipe by Nici Wickes from her book A Quiet Kitchen.
Can you imagine how good it was to tuck into this while sitting in our campervan overlooking the beach? We were in heaven!
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
20 grams butter
3 rashers smoky bacon, diced
2 medium onions, quartered
2 stalks celery (leave whole)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, excess fat removed (or use 6-8 chicken pieces)
1 cup red or white wine
1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1 cup small brown button mushrooms
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon flour + water, to thicken gravy, optional
chopped parsley, to garnish
crusty bread, to serve
Method
For this dish, use a large pot or flame/ovenproof casserole dish (Le Creuset or similar) that has a lid. Melt the butter in the pot and add the bacon, onions and celery stalks. Sauté until golden, remove and set aside.
Add the oil to the pot and brown the chicken. If necessary, do this in 2-3 batches so as not to overcrowd the pot. Once finished browning, return the chicken, bacon, onions and celery to the pot. Add the wine and bring to a rapid simmer for 2 minutes – this allows the alcohol to cook off.
Add the stock, bay leaves and thyme.
Cover and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour (or cover and cook in a preheated oven at 160°C for 1.5 hours), until the chicken is very tender and falling away from the bone.
Halfway through the cooking, add the mushrooms and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Just before serving you may choose to thicken the gravy slightly with flour mixed with a little water. Pour it into the pot and cook for a further 10 minutes. You want a sauce that is not too thick, not too thin, just right!
Serve with crusty bread.
Note: Without a doubt, this dish is better made the day before, cooled, then reheated. It just deepens the flavours.
This is an edited extract from A Quiet Kitchen by Nici Wickes (Bateman Books), $45.
