Recipe:
This is originally from Jamie’s Italy and the page is well worn, but these days I adapt to to use whatever ingredients I have in the fridge.
Its one that requires a little time and ideally you would marinade the chicken for at least an hour or even better overnight. However I have made this recipe many times when I didn’t have time to do this and although the longer you marinade the better the flavour, it still works really well with just a 20 min marinade. It uses anchovies to give a delicious Umami, savoury morish flavour and is packed with anti-inflammatory ingredients.
It’s a perfect recipe for batch cooking and freezing. I add veg that I have in the fridge that need using such as carrots, mushrooms, celery. You could add Cannellini or other beans to give you a complete meal.
You will need
1 x 2kg chicken, jointed, or use the equivalent amount of chicken pieces
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 bay leaves
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
3 cloves of garlic, peeled (1 crushed, 2 sliced)
½ a bottle of Chianti
flour, for dusting
extra virgin olive oil
6 anchovy fillets
a handful of green or black olives, stoned
2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes
Method:
-Season the chicken pieces with salt and freshly ground black pepper and put them into a bowl.
-Add the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs and the crushed clove of garlic and cover with the wine.
-Leave to marinate for at least an hour, but preferably overnight in the fridge.
-Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.
-Drain the chicken, reserving the marinade, and pat dry with kitchen paper.
-Dust the chicken pieces with flour and shake off any excess.
-Heat an ovenproof pan, add a splash of olive oil, fry the chicken pieces until browned lightly all over and put to one side.
-Place the pan back on the heat and add the sliced garlic.
-Fry gently until golden brown, then add the anchovies, olives, tomatoes (broken up with a wooden spoon) and the chicken pieces with their reserved marinade.
-Bring to the boil, cover with a lid or a double thickness layer of foil and bake in the preheated oven for 1½ hours.
-Skim off any oil that’s collected on top of the sauce, then stir, taste and add a little salt and pepper if necessary.
-Remove the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs, and serve with a salad, or some cannellini beans, and plenty of Chianti.
Nicky Dear Health Coach 