Pot-roast chicken with figs
Pot-roast chicken often seems like a pure, ‘clean’ sort of meal, not a luxurious one. This, however, because of the figs, honey and Armagnac, is quite grand, more than a little special.
Ingrediënten
- 1½ tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1.8 kg 4lb chicken
- 1 large onion roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp Armagnac
- 125 ml 4fl oz dry white wine
- 125 ml 4fl oz chicken stock
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 18 figs stalks snipped, halved
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 20 g ¾oz cold unsalted butter,
- cut into cubes
Instructies
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
- Heat the olive oil, season the chicken and brown it all over.
- Remove the chicken.
- Pour off all but 1½ tbsp of the fat from the pan and cook the onion in this over a medium heat until soft and golden.
- Deglaze the pan with the Armagnac, scraping with a wooden spoon to remove all the sticky bits, then add the wine, stock, thyme and bay leaf.
- Add a good grinding of black pepper.
- Return the chicken and any juices that have run out of it.
- Cover, put into the oven and cook for 70 minutes, then take the lid off and cook for another 20 minutes.
- Baste every so often.
- Strain off the cooking juices.
- Cover the chicken to keep warm.
- Skim the fat from the cooking juices.
- Put the juices into a frying pan (one that will hold the figs in a single layer) and boil to reduce them.
- You want a liquid that is slightly syrupy.
- Reduce the heat and add the figs, vinegar and honey, to flavour the juices and make the figs tender and glossy, about four minutes.
- Remove the figs with a slotted spoon and whisk in the cold butter gradually; it makes the sauce rich and shiny.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
Serve the chicken – either whole or jointed – on a warm platter with the figs around it and the sauce in a heated jug on the side.
