Hearty braised chicken with tomatoes & artichokes

On days when you’re trapped indoors, waiting…. just waiting for a break in the snow storm so that you can peek your face outside- those are the days to make stew. Of course, it helps if you already have the ingredients on stand-by- or at least a well stocked pantry and a few odd chicken pieces in the freezer. You haven’t? Haven’t you learned anything at all from this snowy winter? I clearly, haven’t- because there I found myself yesterday staring into an empty fridge, an empty freezer (recently cleared-out by my husband after I left him for 2 weeks) and pretty sparse cupboards by my standards.

By lunchtime I knew that whilst I could quite happily spend three meals sucking on spoonfuls of peanut butter and scraps of dark chocolate- Don would not be impressed when it came to dinner.  So, having layered myself in half my wardrobe and tugged relentlessly at my coat zipper until it begrudgingly tucked all of me in I then stumbled around in my Michelin man suit to pull on my snow boots and ski goggles (okay so I left the ski goggles at home, but I wished I’d bought them). I only ventured out far enough to grab an organic free-range chicken and a bunch of rosemary and then quickly waddled back to my toasty seventh floor apartment, which is conveniently heated by my neighbours on all four sides. The benefits of living in such close proximity to others have finally been realised.

This stew is hearty and light at the same time- it’s one that can be served in the summer with a salad or couscous or in the winter just about any kind of starch will work. It’s based on a Delia Smith chicken Cacciatore recipe, but her’s uses fresh tomatoes which you are then supposed to blanch and skin and- well, despite the fact that tomatoes this time of year are like cotton balls to eat I am not in the business of skinning tomatoes. I didn’t have the white wine so I replaced it with red and then found myself thinking wouldn’t it be nice to add some veg. Don had ignored a bag of frozen artichoke hearts in the freezer so I decided that I would dump them in. I remembered Delia’s recipe (delicious though it is) has a tendency to be a bit watery and I wanted something rich that wouldn’t leak-out all over my plate.  So, I lightly coated the chicken in seasoned flour before I browned it. The result of which, is a sauce that is lightly bound together and so much more satisfying.

The only problem with this stew is that it’s really better the next day- aren’t they all? That being said you won’t be disappointed if you don’t wait and if you live in a house of one or two then you’ll have leftovers….lots of leftovers. Which, considering how the snow is still hurling around outside my window, is quite a relief for me.

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Hearty braised chicken with tomatoes & artichokes

This dish is really one that you want to make the day before and reheat- or at least make in the morning and reheat in the evening. The sauce will slightly thicken on sitting and the flavours will fully concentrate. In the summer I replace the canned tomatoes with fresh ones.

Serves 6

Diet Facts: hearty, homey, satisfying

1 x 5 lb organic, free range chicken,  jointed into 8 pieces

roughly 1/2 cup plain flour, mixed with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper

couple of glugs olive oil

2 medium-sized onions, peeled and sliced

6 anchovies

3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

1 Tbsp finely chopped rosemary

1 generous glass red wine

2 x 14 oz cans whole fire roasted tomatoes or San Marzano tomatoes

1 bay leaf

340g/12 oz bag frozen artichokes

• Heat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3

• Heat a glug of olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed ovenproof pan with a lid (such as a Le Creuset braiser) over a medium-high heat. Coat the chicken lightly in your seasoned flour and brown in the pan, really well on all sides in 2-3 batches. Start with the skin side down and avoid moving around the pan until in the skin naturally releases itself from the bottom of the pan. This whole process will take about 15 minutes.

• Remove all the chicken from the pan and add a little more olive oil. Add the onions and cook over medium-high, stirring often until softened and beginning to brown (about 10 minutes). Add the anchovies and garlic to the pan and stir until the anchovies have broken down. Add the red wine and let bubble until mostly reduced.

• Add the chicken back to the pan in one even layer, then add the remaining ingredients, making sure that the chicken is nesting in the liquid rather than on top. If the chicken is not mostly covered by liquid then add a glass of water.

• Cover the pan and cook in the oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until the juices have thickened and the chicken is fork tender. After 1 hour of cooking, check that there is still enough liquid in the pan and that nothing is drying out. If it is madly bubbling, then turn the oven down. Once done, the chicken should be completely fork tender.

• This dish is best served the next day, when the flavours have had time to concentrate. I like to serve it with a salad in the summer but in the winter you can serve it with any kind of starch- I’m particularly partial to couscous.

Tagged as: braised chicken, Chicken, chicken stew, chicken with tomatoes and artichokes, frozen artichokes, Recipe, san marzano tomatoes