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!

Spring Greens with Chilli Oil

Part of my 100% British Menu!

Dead easy to prepare, healthy and with a little spicy kick! To prepare (for 4), you'll need:

500 g Spring Greens

1 tbs good olive oil

2 small dried chilli peppers

1 fat clove of garlic, bashed with back of a knife

salt 

handful of pine nuts

Method:

Heat a tiny frying pan without oil. Toss in some pine nuts and toast over a hot flame until golden brown.

 

Put to one side. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, toss in the spring greens and boil vigorously for 3-4 minutes. Whilst you do that heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add to it the garlic and the crushed chillies, stirring to flavour the oil. When the garlic has turned golden brown, discard it. Strain the greens from the water, get as much liquid out as possible.

Toss the greens into the hot chilli oil, coat evenly and serve sprinkled on top with toasted pine nuts. 

Serve with the Oven-Baked Chicken with Red Wine sauce.

Oven-Baked Chicken with Rosemary, Shallot and Red Wine Sauce.

For the main course of my 100% British menu, I did Oven-Baked chicken in a Red Wine, Rosemary and Shallot sauce, Roast Portabello Mushrooms and Spring Greens in chilli oil. Simple, yummy, anyone can do it!

For the chicken you'll need,

Ingredients (for 4):

- 4 legs of chicken 

- two fat sprigs of fresh rosemary

- 4 fat cloves of garlic

- one large chopped shallot

- 2 glasses of red plonk (wine)

- hot water

- mixed dried herbs 

- freshly ground black pepper and sea salt

- olive oil

Method:

Heat your oven to gas mark 7

Line a thick large pan with oil and gently fry the chopped shallots and a large sprig of rosemary until the shallots soften. Meanwhile lightly score the chicken legs and rub with salt, pepper and herbs, sticking in some finely sliced garlic slivers here and there.

Once the shallots are soft, turn up the heat and brown the chicken legs on both sides to seal in the flavours. Once browned, remove the chicken legs and place in an oven-proof baking dish.

De-glaze your pan by sloshing the glass of plonk into it, getting it to a slow bubble and scraping the yummy caramelised shallots away from the edges and into the sauce. Keep the rosemary sprig in there to get the most flavour out of it.

Once the wine sauce has reduced a fair bit, pour it over the chicken legs, add a fresh sprig of rosemary among the chicken legs and pop the whole lot into the oven. If there's not enough wine to go around, add a teensy bit of hot water...

Bake uncovered for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to gas mark 4, baste the chicken legs with the sauce and cover with foil before popping back into the lower shelf.

Bake for a further 50 minutes.

Remove from the oven, pour the gravy into a gravy boat, and thicken with a teaspoon of cornflower if necessary.

Serve with Roast Portabello Mushrooms and Spring Greens in Chilli Oil