Braised Chicken Legs with Puy Lentils and Tomato
If you have some midweek entertaining to do, this chicken dish is ideal. You cook the whole recipe in one pan, and even though it looks like there are a lot of ingredients, the preparation and cooking part of the recipe are pretty straightforward.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 4 chicken legs
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 20g butter
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp nigella seeds
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 1 large carrot, finely chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 150ml Madeira wine
- 200ml white wine
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 850ml chicken stock
- 250g Puy lentils
- 150g semi-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to serve
Method
In a bowl, mix the cornflour with some salt and pepper and add the chicken legs. Coat well and set aside.
Heat the olive oil and the butter in a large, wide, ovenproof saucepan over medium heat. Add the chicken and brown for about 10 minutes until the skin is evenly golden.
Lightly crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar. Remove the chicken from the pan and add the garlic, onion, celery, carrot, bay leaves, thyme sprigs and the crushed seeds.
Cook for about 10 minutes over medium-low heat, until the vegetables are softened.
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
Turn up the heat under the pan and pour in the Madeira and white wine. Bring to the boil and allow to bubble away until reduced by half.
Stir in the tomato puree and chicken stock. Return to the boil, add the lentils and return the chicken to the pan. Cover with a lid and put in the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven, stir through the tomatoes and then continue to cook in the oven, uncovered, for a further 15 minutes. Remove the thyme stalks and bay leaves and scatted over the parsley to serve.
Find more one-pan recipes in Marcus at Home, by Marcus Wareing.
