Chicken on the bone?

I used to always avoid cooking chicken that was on the bone or with skin on. I think I was so keen on eating the food as quickly as possible that having to take the bits and pieces out seemed to take too long. I was never very keen on eating the skin either, unless it was super crispy, but have a husband who is more than willing to eat my share of the skin. Now though, if I'm planning on cooking a stew with chicken in it, I always plan on using chicken on the bone. I will admit that initially it was driven more by a desire to cut some costs, chicken pieces tend to be a lot cheaper and it allowed me to buy organic or free range for a reasonable price. I quickly discovered how much nicer and taster the end result is.

I've also discovered that it can be a really good way of using up whatever vegetables are left in the fridge or if I'm short on vegetables, I'll add some pearl barley to add bulk. The joy of this recipe is that it can be adapted to the taste of the people being fed and to what is either in your fridge or in season. I write quantities in terms of what number I need to buy as I haven't got a clue how much the average carrot or potato weighs and don't have the time to calculate it when writing the shopping list. The other joy of this recipe is that I can put a portion in the freezer for another day, the recipe below would feed about 4 adults, so at the moment in our house, half goes in the freezer for another day. This is a great prepare ahead meal, it does benefit from a longer cooking time if possible, so it can always be cooking in the oven whilst eating dinner or relaxing during the evening. Put it in the fridge once it's cooked ready to enjoy for dinner the next day.

 

Chicken stew

7/8 Chicken pieces (either thighs or a mix of drumsticks and thighs)

Tablespoon plain flour

Salt and pepper

Tablespoon olive oil, knob of butter

2 carrots

1 medium parsnip

3 medium potatoes

4 medium tomatoes

2 heaped teaspoons chicken stock granules

Dried thyme

Method

Preheat oven to 150°C, I put mine in the bottom oven on the 2 door aga.

Lightly dust the chicken with the flower and season with salt and pepper. At the same time put the oil and butter into an ovenproof casserole dish (one that has a lid) and put onto the heat.

Place the chicken skin side down into the bubbling oil/butter mix. Don't put the lid on as this will steam the chicken so I use a splash guard to protect myself from any spitting. Try not to move the chicken too much as this will prevent it from browning well.

Whilst the chicken is browning prepare all of the vegetables. I peel carrots and parsnips but leave the skins on potatoes. There is no magic size that they need to be chopped to but they all need to be roughly the same size. I try to aim for 2cm size pieces.

Once the chicken has browned on one side, turn it over and allow the other side to brown. Boil a kettle about ¾ full whilst you are waiting. Once all sides are browned, add the vegetables, herbs and chicken stock granules. Pour over the boiling water from the kettle, I tend to aim for the water to reach just below the top of the vegetables. Avoid the temptation to cover the vegetables completely as you will have too much cooking liquid at the end. Give everything a good stir, put the lid on and place the casserole dish into the oven.

Leave it too cook for as long as possible, I try to leave mine for 2 to 3 hours, checking on it once or twice. If you want the chicken skin to have another opportunity to crisp up, 30 minutes before you want to serve the stew, remove the lid of the casserole dish and increase the temperature in the oven (or move it up to the hot oven in an aga.)