Braised Chicken with Grapes and Fennel - Recipe by Letitia Clark

Ingredients

1 large chicken, jointed into 8 pieces (ask your butcher to do this if necessary)
1 celery stalk (optional, if making your own stock – see method)
2 carrots (optional, if making your own stock – see method)
3 Tbs olive oil
3 garlic cloves, halved
Few sprigs of rosemary
1 large fennel bulb, cut into wedges
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 bunch of grapes
1 Tbs sherry vinegar
2 small glasses white wine/Vernaccia
1 tsp runny honey
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
About 100mL chicken stock
Salt

Method

If using a whole jointed chicken, you can boil the carcass with a celery stalk and carrots for a couple of hours to make a stock to use in the dish.

Preheat the oven to 190 C.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a heavy casserole dish (Dutch oven). Season the chicken pieces all over with salt, then brown them, a few at a time, skin-side down, over a medium heat until golden brown. Turn them flesh-side down, add the garlic and rosemary to the casserole and cook until the garlic pieces just begin to colour. Once golden all over, remove the chicken pieces, rosemary and garlic and set aside on a plate.

Heat the final spoonful of oil in the casserole and cook the fennel wedges for a few minutes, allowing them to turn golden. Add the fennel seeds and grapes, then the sherry vinegar and wine and allow to boil for a few minutes, stirring and scraping all the nice sticky golden bits from the bottom of the dish.

Add the chicken back in with its garlic and rosemary. Now add the honey, balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt along with the stock. Place in the oven and cook for 40 minutes until the chicken is tender and falling off the bone. Taste and check for seasoning. If your sauce looks too liquid, remove the chicken pieces and reduce it for a minute or two on the hob until syrupy.

Serve with some steamed potatoes, mash or simply good bread and a bitter leaf salad.

Credits: This is an edited extract from Wild Figs and Fennel by Letitia Clark, published by Hardie Grant Books. Available in stores nationally. Photography by Charlotte Bland and Letitia Clark. RRP $55.

Photo Credits: This is an edited extract from Wild Figs and Fennel by Letitia Clark, published by Hardie Grant Books. Available in stores nationally. Photography by Charlotte Bland and Letitia Clark. RRP $55.