Nothing says welcome home quite like a deep casserole puttering quietly on the hob, aromatic notes of comfort and joy coming down the hall to greet you. “Quietly” is the key here, with ingredients brought gently together at a whispering bubble rather than a rolling boil.
This week’s chicken casserole is one such recipe – slowly simmered, dark and mildly spiced, but with the bonus of the fresh, salty-citrus snap of lemons and green olives.
This is a supper to soothe, but also to uplift with a last-minute vibrant scattering of coriander and mint. A recipe for thighs and drumsticks rather than breasts, the brown meat being happier cooked in this way than the softer, less succulent white.
I put a dish of apples on the hob, too, the fruit softening translucently in a deep pool of fruit juice and apple jelly. Clear flavours and jewel-bright juice to follow the spiced chicken.
Chicken with lemon and olives
To finish the dish, take the chicken out of the sauce with a draining spoon and keep it warm while you reduce the liquid over a high heat. It should not thicken, but the reduction will concentrate the notes of lemon, salt and spice. You could bring it to the table with a bowl of steamed couscous to soak up its paprika and ginger spiked juices, or with a simple pilaf or a green salad. Serves 4
chicken pieces 8 thighs or a mixture of drumsticks, wings and thighs
coriander seeds 2 tsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp
ground cinnamon 1 tsp
hot smoked paprika ½ tsp
ginger a thumb-sized piece
olive oil 6 tbsp
onions 2
garlic 3 cloves
preserved lemons 2
green olives 75g
chicken stock 750ml
To finish:
mint 20 large leaves
coriander 15g
Put the chicken pieces into a mixing bowl. Mix together the coriander and cumin seeds, then grind them to a fine powder. You can use a spice mill for this, but it takes seconds with a pestle and mortar. Stir in the ground cinnamon and hot smoked paprika.
Peel the ginger and grate to a paste on a fine-toothed grater. Add the ginger paste to the spices, then mix in half the olive oil. Rub this paste over the chicken, massaging it into the skin and flesh with your hands. Cover the bowl with a plate and set aside for an hour.
Warm the remaining olive oil in a deep, heavy-based casserole over a moderate heat, then add the chicken pieces, letting them brown lightly before turning them over. Keep an eye on them, checking that the spice paste doesn’t burn. Remove the chicken pieces and set aside on a plate.
Peel the onions and cut them in half, then cut each half into 6 segments. Peel the garlic, then slice finely. Return the empty chicken pot to the heat, stir in the onions and garlic and leave them to cook on a medium heat until they are soft and pale gold in colour. Give them a stir from time to time.
Finely chop the preserved lemons, removing the pips as you go. You can remove the pith inside if you wish, but I tend not to. Stir the lemons into the onions, then pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Lower the heat so the liquid simmers gently, return the chicken and any escaped juices to the pan, partially cover with a lid, then leave to cook for a good hour, checking the liquid levels from time to time.
Stir in the olives, stoning them if necessary, then check the sauce for seasoning, adding a little salt or black pepper as you think fit. Remove the chicken with a draining spoon and set aside, then turn up the heat and reduce the sauce a little. Taste and check the seasoning again.
Finely chop the mint. Remove the leaves from the coriander, then scatter both over the chicken as you serve, as a vivid top note.
Apples with fruit jelly and sloe gin
The apples are best served chilled, surrounded by their ruby-coloured syrup. A little care is needed with the cooking. Keep testing the fruit for readiness with a metal skewer, as they will collapse into the syrup if cooked too fast. Don’t let them boil. Their progress is easier to monitor if you halve and core the apples first, though keeping them whole is a charming way to present them. The recipe is good without the gin, too, if it’s not your thing. Serves 3
caster sugar 200g
apples 6, small and sweet
clementine 1
cinnamon ½ a stick
coriander seeds 10
fruit jelly 4 tbsp, blackcurrant, apple or medlar
sloe gin 100ml
In a heavy-based, medium-sized saucepan, bring the sugar and 750ml water to the boil. Peel the apples, but leave them whole (if they are larger than a clementine, then halve and core them). Lower the apples into the boiling syrup, then turn down the heat so they simmer gently. The time they will take to come to tenderness will depend on size and variety, so check them every few minutes with a skewer. A small dessert apple should take about 20 minutes if cooked whole. If you halve and core them, then start checking after 10 minutes.
Peel 3 wide strips of peel from the clementine and drop it into the syrup, then add the cinnamon stick and coriander seeds and leave to simmer until the apples are tender to the point of a knife.
Lift the apples from the juice with a draining spoon and transfer gently to a serving dish. Stir the fruit jelly into the cooking juice, pour in the sloe gin and turn up the heat. Let the juice reduce for a few minutes, then taste for sweetness, adding a little more sugar if necessary. Remove from the heat, then strain through a sieve and pour the juice over the apples. Let them cool, then transfer to a serving dish, cover with kitchen film or a lid of some sort and let them chill thoroughly in the fridge.
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