Sebastian Stoskopff 1633

My usual casserole tends to stick to the old traditional chicken, onion, carrots and other root vegetables with a few herbs, a spot of garlic and maybe some tomato puree, but this recipe steps it up a gear and doesn’t take long to cook. There’s enough here for four people and I would suggest you serve it with some green vegetables, (maybe broccoli, peas or green beans?) and some bread, rice or pasta, although, as an old fashioned English girl, I can’t have a stew type meal without a baked or roast potato (affectionately known as spuds in the UK!). 

Ingredients

50 ml (2 fl oz Olive oil

8 Chicken thighs with skin

1 Head of garlic

1 Spanish onion

2 tsp Flour

2 Sprigs of fresh rosemary

1 Glass of dry white wine

1 pinch Black pepper powder

1 pinch Salt

1 Glass of water

200 g (8 oz) Pitted green and pitted black Spanish olives

Method

Place a wide pan over a high heat and add a touch of olive oil, then lightly season the chicken thighs with the salt and place skin side down in the pan to brown. Turn when skin has browned and, once both sides are golden, set them aside

Start frying the thinly sliced garlic and onion in the same pan using the remaining fat.

When golden, add the flour and stir constantly for about a minute to ensure that the flour doesn’t become lumpy.

Place the chicken back to the pan, add some rosemary and pour in the glass of white wine.

Stir the sauce to dissolve the flour and continue cooking to reduce the wine by half.  This burns off the alcohol but adds flavour to the dish.   Add the black pepper, the glass of water and the olives at this stage too. 

Continue braising the dish for around 20 minutes, until the chicken has tenderised and is cooked through, and the sauce is juicy and rich sauce.

Taste the dish and, if you feel it needs a bit more oomph then add a touch more salt or pepper.

The lovely thing about this dish is that it’s all cooked in one pan so there’s minimal washing up at the end of it and, unlike so many other casseroles and stews, it’s cooked in a jiffy rather than taking hours either on the hob or in the oven so saves you not only time, but money on domestic fuel consumption!