This rich chicken stew can be frozen once and eaten the following day for lunch with crusty bread.
Timings
Prep time: 10 minutes, plus 30 minutes cooling time
Cook time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Serves
four
Ingredients
- 3 bell peppers (red or a mixture of red and yellow)
- 1 x 400g tin whole plum tomatoes
- 800g chicken (either 1 chicken jointed into pieces or all thighs)
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp capers
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 100ml white wine
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 7.
- Cook the whole peppers on a tray until blackened, blistered and soft (30-45 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and put them into a bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean plastic bag or cling film and leave to cool for 30 minutes.
- Peel the peppers under cold water and discard the cores and seeds. Tear them into 10 long strips around three centimetres wide and set aside.
- Break up the tomatoes.
- Season the chicken generously on all sides. Fry the chicken in the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat for about 10 minutes until it’s golden brown.
- Tip away most of the excess fat, leaving just a couple of tablespoons in the pan.
- Add the garlic, capers and oregano, and fry for two minutes over a low heat so that the garlic doesn’t brown at all.
- Pour in the white wine, increase the heat to medium, and allow it to reduce for a couple of minutes.
- Add the peppers and tomatoes and stir to combine them with the chicken pieces.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to simmer gently over a medium-low heat, uncovered, for around 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and comes away easily from the bone. Move the pieces around occasionally to make sure they are covered in the sauce and are cooked evenly.
- When the chicken is done, taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning as necessary.
Recipe from Rome: Centuries in an Italian Kitchen by Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi (Hardie Grant, £25)