Chicken with Red Wine Vinegar and Tomato

In the post Christmas sales I snapped up a drool worthy Le Creuset casserole dish, something that I have wanted for some time now. I have been dying to use it and I finally had my chance. Armed with Stephanie Alexander's 'The Cook's Companion' (which was a Christmas present to my husband from his sister), and a big arse chicken I set out to make chicken with red wine vinegar and tomato.

This dish is seriously easy. The hardest bit was chopping up the chicken, mainly due to the fact that we don’t own a cleaver (will be adding that one to the birthday list).  With a little bit of muscular help from my hubby I finally managed to hack through it with our trusty chef’s knife. Fingers crossed I haven’t completely blunted the poor knife!

I pretty much followed the recipe exactly because it was the first time I had made it.  The only thing I really did differently was using tinned chopped tomatoes instead of making a tomato sauce. In the future if I’m making this dish and I have some beautiful fresh tomatoes lying around I will make the sauce, but this dish was brilliant enough done the lazy way.

The recipe - complete with butter splatters. Sorry poor cook book :(

Chicken with Red Wine Vinegar and Tomato – Serves 4

1 x 1.8kg chicken
Salt
Pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
40g butter
8 cloves garlic, peeled
12 shallots, peeled
¾ cup red wine vinegar
¾ cup fresh tomato sauce or tomato passata
¾ cup chicken stock
2 Tbsp freshly chopped parsley

Joint chicken into thighs, drumsticks and wings and cut each breast fillet in half, keeping it on the bone. You should have 10 pieces. Season.

Heat oil and two-thirds of the butter in a large enamelled cast-iron casserole and, in batches, brown chicken, removing each place to a plate as it becomes nicely coloured.

In the process of browning the chicken.

Add garlic and shallots to casserole to brown, then transfer to plate with chicken. 

Browning the shallots and garlic

Pour off fat from pot. Return chicken pieces to casserole, putting thigh and drumstick sections on the bottom. Scatter garlic and shallots on top. Turn heat to high and, when there is a convincing sizzle, pour in vinegar. It should instantly sizzle and froth and bubble. Shake pot once or twice, and when not much liquid remains, add tomato sauce and stock.

Bring back to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Slip a simmer mat underneath pot and cook on top of stove for 25 minutes (or transfer pot to oven at 180 degrees Celcius).

When the chicken pieces are tender shake in the remaining butter. Taste sauce for seasoning and scatter over parsley.

The unveiling after it came out of the oven. It looked a lot better in real life, honest.

 The verdict? Nom nom nom. I loved that it was such simple flavours, but then with a little tang of vinegar making it a bit more interesting. I served it straight from oven to table as to not lose the rustic look. The way food is presented really does have an impact, and because I generally fail at presentation, this was the best way to do it for me. A side of mashed spuds went with it beautifully, making it so we could mop up plenty of the delicious juices. Definitely a winner, although I’m not sure whether I should attribute it’s success to the Le Creuset casserole dish, Stephanie Alexander’s recipe, or my mad skills.