HUNTER’S CHICKEN CASSEROLE

This is one of Giancarlo’s recipes from his childhood in Tuscany. It was made after a hunt when his father would have caught rabbit, pheasant or partridge, or dispatched one of their chickens or guinea fowl. We make it with chicken but any of the white meats will work. Do be fussy in your choice of olives; the flavour is so much better if you buy them with stones. Good-quality black kalamata or taggiasche are best for this dish.

PER SERVING 4.9g carbs, 2g fibre, 44g protein, 31g fat, 487 kcal

Serves 6

1 large chicken, jointed, or 6 large chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

Salt and freshly ground

black pepper

2 sprigs of rosemary

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

4 rashers of unsmoked

streaky bacon 2 red peppers, roughly

chopped

175ml white wine

2tbsp tomato purée

100g good-quality black

olives, stoned

500ml chicken stock

2tbsp cornflour (optional)

75g double cream

1tbsp roughly chopped

parsley

Vegetable mash or green

vegetables, to serve

Season the chicken with salt and black pepper. Heat a large casserole dish or wide saucepan and brown the chicken, skin side down first, very well all over. It will take up to 30 minutes. Let each side become golden before turning it. Remove the chicken from the pan and remove two-thirds of the fat.

Pile the rosemary, garlic and bacon on a chopping board and chop them together with a sharp knife. It will form a fatty paste which will melt and form the base of the stew. Fry the paste in the casserole dish for 2 minutes, until it renders down and smells fragrant. Add the peppers and stir. Cook for a couple of minutes then add the chicken pieces. Increase the heat so that they sizzle then pour in the wine; allow it to evaporate for five minutes before adding the tomato purée, olives and stock. Bring the stew to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer.

Cover the pan, leaving the lid ajar to let out some of the liquid or partially cover it with foil. Let it cook over a low heat for 1 hour. Remove the lid and check the meat: it should fall off the bone easily, but cook for up to 30 minutes more if not. If there is a lot of liquid, add the cornflour made into a paste with 2tbsp of water. Heat, stirring, until thickened, stir through the cream and serve.

Scatter the parsley over and serve with some vegetable mash (see page 50) or your choice of green vegetables.