This is one of my favourite recipes :
Ingredients :
25g (1 oz) butter
15 ml (1 tbsp) vegetable oil
4 chicken quarters, halved
125g (4 oz) lean back bacon, rind removed and chopped
1.1 Kg (2.5 lb) floury potatoes, such as King Edwards, peeled and cut into 5 mm (0.25 inch) slices
2 large onions, skinned and sliced
salt and pepper
10 ml (2 tsp) chopped thyme of 2.5 ml (0.5 tsp) dried thyme
600 ml (1 pint) chicken stock
fresh chives to garnish
Preparation :
- Heat half of the butter and the oil in a large frying pan and fry the chicken and bacon for5 minutes, until lightly browned
- Place a thick layer of potato slices, then onion slices in the base of a large ovenproof casserole dish. Season well and add thyme and dot with half the remaining butter
- Add the chicken and bacon, season to taste and dot the remaining butter. Cover with the remaining onions and finally a layer of potatoes. Season and dot with butter. Pour over the stock
- Cover and bake at 150C/300F/Mark 2 Gas for about 2 hours, until chicken is tender and the potatoes are cooked, adding a little more hot stock if necessary
- Sprinkle with snipped chives and serve
Personally I use a mixture of thighs and drumsticks. I also have a preference of using Maris Piper potatoes. As you may have discovered if you have tried some of my other recipes, I do like the sauce, therefore again I use 1000 ml of chicken stock, so that I have some ready to add if the cooking is drying it out (My stock can be seen just under the top layer of potatoes, so quite full). I tend to chop the onions so they just melt into the food and again maybe a little heavier with the thyme. These are just my preferences and how I have adapted this recipe to suit us. The one thing I can tell you, the meat just falls of the bones.
Please tell me how it turned out and if you did anything differently