Chicken Red Wine Casserole With Herby Dumplings Food

CHICKEN & RED WINE CASSEROLE WITH HERBY DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to fan 180C/ conventional 200C/gas 6. Season the chicken with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then coat lightly in a little of the flour. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof lidded casserole dish and, in batches, brown the chicken on both sides over a high heat. Remove the chicken and set aside.
• Reduce the heat, add the onions and lardons and cook for about 5-8 minutes so they are golden tinged. Add the garlic, then sprinkle in the plain flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring to prevent sticking.
• Add the mushrooms, bay leaves, redcurrant sauce and orange zest, then pour in the red wine and stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then return the chicken to the casserole dish, making sure it is well covered with the liquid. Put on the lid and cook in the oven for 30 minutes.
• While the casserole is cooking, prepare the dumplings. Put the self raising flour, breadcrumbs, mustard and butter in a food processor and blitz to a crumb consistency. Add the thyme, parsley, eggs and salt and pepper. Briefly blitz until the mixture forms a fairly moist dough. Using floured hands, roll the dough into 6 large, even-sized balls.
• Remove the casserole from the oven when the 30 minutes is up and sit the dumplings on top. Pop the lid back on and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes, until the casserole is cooked and the dumplings have puffed up. Spoon the chicken and sauce onto six plates and top each with a dumpling. Serve with a rich, fruity red wine.
• If you want to use a slow cooker, brown the chicken in batches and transfer to the slow cooker pot. Add the flour, onions, lardons, garlic, mushrooms, bay leaves, redcurrant, orange zest, red wine and stock, and season. Cover and cook on High for 4 hours. Make the dumplings according to step 4, then sit on top of the casserole after 4 hours. Cook for another 1-2 hours, then serve.

CHICKEN CASSEROLE WITH HERBY DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Toss the chicken pieces with the flour and some salt and pepper, to coat them - it's easy to do this in a plastic food bag.
• Heat the oil in a casserole with a lid. Brown the chicken pieces well on all sides - you'll need to do this in batches. Remove all the pieces to a plate, and tip the onions, carrot, lardons, bay and thyme into the pan. Cook gently for 10 mins until the onion is softened.
• Return the chicken pieces, with any juices that have collected on the plate. Then pour in the red wine, 250ml water and tomato paste and crumble in the stock cube. Add a splash more of water if you need, until the chicken is almost covered. Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and bake in the oven for 20 mins. Remove the lid and bake for another 10 mins while you make the dumplings.
• Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it feels like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the herbs with ½ tsp salt and some pepper. Drizzle over 150ml water, and stir in quickly with a cutlery knife to form a light dough. Use floured hands to shape into ping pong sized balls.
• Place the dumplings on top of the stew and bake for 20 mins more until the dumplings are cooked through.

CHICKEN AND RED WINE SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook garlic in oil until tender. Place chicken in the skillet, and cook about 10 minutes on each side, until no longer pink and juices run clear.
• Drain oil from skillet. Sprinkle chicken with paprika and 1 cup brown sugar. Pour red wine around chicken. Cover, and simmer about 15 to 20 minutes; lightly baste chicken with wine sauce while cooking. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

CHICKEN AND RED WINE CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Put the shallots in a large bowl with the garlic, herbs and wine. Mix, then add the chicken breasts, season with salt and black pepper and marinate for at least 1 hour. When you're ready to cook, preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3.
• Sit a colander over a large saucepan and strain the marinated chicken, reserving the shallots, bay leaves and thyme. Dab the chicken with kitchen paper to dry it.
• Heat the oil and 50g/1¾oz of the butter in a deep ovenproof frying pan or casserole dish. Add the chicken breasts and fry on a medium-high heat, for 5-10 minutes each side, or until browned all over - you may need to do this in batches. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
• Meanwhile, set the pan with the wine marinade over a high heat and boil, for 5-10 minutes, until the volume of liquid has reduced by a third. Add the flour to a bowl with 150ml/5fl oz water and whisk until smooth. Stir in a little of the hot wine, and add this mixture to the rest of the wine in the pan. Keep hot.
• Add the bacon to the frying pan or casserole dish and fry over a high heat for about 10 minutes, or until browned. Add the reserved shallots and continue to cook for another 10 minutes, or until they start to soften.
• Add the hot wine sauce and tomato purée to the frying pan or casserole dish with the sugar, reserved bay leaves, thyme, salt and black pepper and bring to a boil. Stir until thickened and add the browned chicken. Bring back to the boil, cover with a lid and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until cooked through.
• Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a medium pan and fry the mushrooms over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes, or until just cooked. Add to the chicken casserole just before serving. Remove the bay leaves and thyme from the casserole and serve the casserole hot with mashed potato and shredded cabbage.