chicken provencal

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons plain flour
• salt and pepper
• 8 chicken thighs, skin and bone removed
• olive oil
• 1 knob butter
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 large wineglasses dry sherry
• 6 tablespoons tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley to decorate (optional)
• 1 tablespoon pitted black olives to decorate (optional)
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• Method
  
  

  1. Preheat the oven to a 170 C / Gas 3. In a large freezer bag add flour and a good amount of salt and pepper. Shake the bag to mix. Add the chicken thighs; add more flour and seasoning if needed. Shake well to coat the chicken.
  2. In a large frying pan heat some oil and butter to medium. Remove the chicken thighs from the bag and shake off any excess. Add to the frying pan and brown until golden but not cooked through. You may need to do this is two batches depending on the size of your pan.
  3. Remove and place in a rectangular oven proof dish. In the same pan, heat some more oil if needed and add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, stirring well. Add the sherry and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and add the tomato puree and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes then pour the sauce over the chicken.
  4. At this stage you can cool and cover with foil and place in the fridge until ready to cook in the evening. Remove from fridge 20-30 minutes before cooking.
  5. Bake, covered, for about 1 hour until chicken cooked through. 12 minutes before the end of cooking time, remove the foil. Keep an eye on it to ensure does not burn and turn the chicken in the sauce occasionally.
  6. Remove from the oven and plate up 2 thighs per person, sauce poured over and decorated with parsley and olives.