Basque Chicken
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes plus 50 minutes unattended
-
4 tablespoons olive oil
-
2 red onions, sliced
-
8 garlic cloves, peeled
-
100g/3.5ozs prosciutto or bacon
-
1 yellow, 1 red and one green capsicum, seeded and sliced thinly
-
2 large green chillies, sliced into rings
-
Piment d'espelette or cayenne pepper
-
2 sprigs thyme
-
2 bay leaves
-
3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped finely
-
200ml white wine
-
4 tablespoons red wine or balsamic vinegar
-
4 chicken marylands (leg and thigh)
-
2 teaspoons sugar
-
salt and pepper to season
Step 1 - In a large cast iron pot, heat 2 of the tablespoons of oil on medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft. Add the garlic and prosciutto and cook for a few minutes until garlic is softened. Add sliced capsicums, green chilli and piment d'espelette or cayenne pepper to taste (I found 3/4 teaspoon of the piment d'espelette quite hot). Cook for 5 minutes until capsicum is starting to soften.
Step 2 - Add the thyme, bay leaves, chopped tomatoes, wine and vinegar and simmer with the lid off for about 8-10 minutes. Season this with sugar, salt and pepper to taste and remove from the pan and place in a bowl.
Step 3 - Heat remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in the pan on medium to high heat. Brown the chicken marylands, two at a time skin side down until browned and then turn over. Once browned, turn heat down to low and place lid on and cook the chicken for 20 minutes.
Yep, that is a microwave plate that I used. This is what happens when Mr NQN uses all of the plates and doesn't do the dishes ;)
Step 4 - Then top the chicken with the capsicum mixture and put lid back on and cook for 50 minutes until the chicken is very soft. Serve with rice or bread.