Chicken legs in pinot noir with sour cherries and parsnip purée
It’s amazing what you can do with some chicken legs and a packet of dried fruit! This dish is dark, rich and rather grand-looking. You don’t have to use Pinot Noir, but the grape does have cherry tones. Any other light, fruity red wine is fine, though.
Ingrediënten
FOR THE CHICKEN
- 400 ml 14fl oz Pinot Noir
- 400 ml 14fl oz chicken stock
- 4 skin-on bone-in chicken legs drumsticks and thighs attached
- salt and pepper
- 1 –2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions halved, each half cut into 4 wedges
- 3 garlic cloves crushed
- 4 tbsp sour cherry juice optional
- 4 sprigs of thyme plus more thyme leaves
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 cm 2in cinnamon stick
- 100 g 3½oz dried sour cherries
FOR THE PARSNIP PURÉE
- 500 g 1lb 2oz parsnips, chopped
- 500 ml 18fl oz chicken stock
- 30 g 1oz unsalted butter
- 75 ml 2½fl oz double cream
- freshly grated nutmeg to taste
- pinch of cayenne pepper or to taste
- juice of ½ lemon or to taste
Instructies
- Reduce the wine and the stock, separately, until they each come to 250ml (9fl oz) of liquid.
- Trim the chicken of any raggedy bits of skin and season with salt and pepper.
- Heat the oil in a sauté pan and brown the chicken legs all over.
- When they’re a good golden colour – and it is really important to get this as it looks and tastes much better in the finished dish – remove them to a plate.
- Pour all but 1 tbsp fat out of the pan.
- Add the onions to the pan and cook over a medium-low heat until they are pale gold.
- Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.
- Pour on the reduced stock and wine, the cherry juice (if you’ve been able to get some), herbs, cinnamon stick and sour cherries.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer.
- Return the chicken legs – together with any juices that have run out of them – to the pan.
- Season, cover and cook for 20 minutes, scooping the wine up over the chicken from time to time.
- Take the lid off and cook for another 20 minutes.
- Put the parsnips in a saucepan, cover with the chicken stock and bring to the boil.
- Reduce the heat a little and cook until completely tender, about 15 minutes.
- Strain, reserving the cooking liquor.
- Put the parsnips in a food processor or blender (a blender produces a smoother purée) and process with all the other ingredients, with just enough of the cooking liquor to make a fine silky purée; remember you are not making a soup, the mixture should be smooth but not too thin.
- Taste for seasoning and adjust any elements you think are not quite right.
- Scrape the purée back into the pan and reheat it gently.
- The juices in the chicken will have reduced and you should be left with enough sauce just to coat the chicken legs and the fruit.
- Taste for seasoning and sprinkle on the thyme leaves.
- Serve the chicken from the sauté pan with the parsnip purée.
