Hung Parliament? Hung Weather... "Spring" Chicken and Chick Pea Casserole

It would seem the May weather is about as undecided as British voters and following the intriguing, confusing and generally messy general-election last Thursday and the ongoing bickering over who gets to to form a government today I thought it was as well to cook something warming and simple, unfussy, straightforward and pleasing in every sense. I know a casserole is hardly the stuff of spring lunchtimes, but frankly, it's colder than a witch's tit outside, the sky's as dense as Bisto and there's a good call for a meal based around chicken stock, the all-curing Jewish penicillin.

The key is all in the quality of the chicken, so go out and buy a good grain-fed, organic birdy, with nice corn-yellow flesh and a thick coating of fat. I prefer the thighs, wings and legs for making casserole as they all have considerably more flavour than the breast and the bones add substance to the broth too.

You'll need, for two:

four legs/thighs of free range, corn-fed, organic, super eco-friendly chicken
1 can of chick peas
3 carrots
fresh thyme
fresh parsley
two bay leaves
crushed black peppercorns
sea salt
one onion, finely diced
two-three cloves of garlic
olive oil

Equip yourself with a Le Creuset heavy-bottomed iron cast pan if you can, or any solid, serious looking deep casserole dish.
Cut incisions in the chicken and stuff them with fine slivers of garlic, then season generously with salt and pepper. Heat some oil in the pan, throw in the onions and let them soften. once this occurs, turn up the heat and place your chick in the pan to brown it, say about five minutes on each side. Toss in the thyme, parsley chopped up and the bay leaves and the remaining garlic cloves. Stir the lot to coat the chicken in all the oil and juices then pour over enough hot water to cover the chicken by about half an inch. Put on the lid and simmer for 40 minutes, checking once in a while to make sure the water hasn't boiled to nothing.

As you wait, peel and roughly chop the carrots and open the can of chickpeas. Once the chicken has been brewing for 40 minutes, add the chickpeas and a little of their water, and the carrots. Cover the pan again and simmer for another hour as low as possible. Taste the stock and season accordingly.

This is a meal that keeps on giving, you can keep simmering as long as you like, until the meat falls off the bone, but two hours is enough to make it tasty as hell if you can't wait any longer!



Serve with wild rice, or some new potatoes and lots of good bread to mop up the juice!