by Monica Galetti from The Skills (Hardie Grant/Quadrille)
Photography: Cristian Barnett
Serves 4
Prep time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 80mins
Ingredients
Chicken
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium chicken, about 1.5kg, jointed into 8 pieces
(Nigel says or buy the pieces - 2 breast, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 drumsticks)
1 onion, sliced
1 head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
200ml white wine
2 Litres chicken stock (can use a stock cube or diluted jelly)
1 thyme sprig
2 fresh or dried bay leaves
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Tartiflette
1kg waxy potatoes, such as Charlotte, sliced 1cm thick
2tbsp olive oil
200g smoked bacon lardons
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
50g plain flour
300ml double cream
400g curly kale, blanched & roughly chopped
300g Reblochon cheese, broken into pieces, plus 100g extra for the top (substitute with Le Gruyère, Camembert or Brie if you can’t get Reblochon)
Method
Heat a large sauté pan on a high heat, add the olive oil then the chicken pieces, skin-side down, & colour all over for 5 mins. Remove the chicken from the pan & add the onion & garlic, sweating the onion until softened. Add the white wine & reduce until almost evaporated. Add the chicken stock, thyme & bay. Season with salt & pepper & bring the liquid to a very low simmer.
Add the chicken pieces & cook very gently until the breast pieces are just cooked, about 10 mins. Remove the breast pieces from the pan with some of the broth & leave to cool in the broth. Continue to simmer the leg meat until cooked, about another 30 mins.
Take off the heat & leave to cool in the broth.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6. For the tartiflette, simmer the potato slices in boiling, salted water until almost tender, then drain & set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the lardons & cook until coloured, then remove from the pan & add the onion. Cook until translucent, then stir in the garlic. Add the flour & cook for 2 mins. Add the cream with 200ml of the reserved strained chicken braising liquid & slowly bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat & season with salt & black pepper.
Remove the chicken meat from the bones & cut into large pieces. Fold the chicken through the cream mixture, along with the kale, the 300g cheese, lardons & the potatoes.
Put into a baking dish, top with 100g cheese & bake until golden brown.
Nigel says: The final baking until golden brown should take 25-30 mins. Keep an eye on it!
