Chicken in Orange, Olive & Wine Sauce

With the festive season around the corner, I can't help but dig up recipes that I love and make year after year. This one though, is an exception. It's not a family-recipe but one that I loved anyway! This is Italian chef , Gino's specialty that he made in the Puglia region of Italy using fresh ingredients. He used lamb but since I got to the market rather late in the evening, it wasn't possible for me to get lamb so I used chicken. I was very happy with the results so if you don't eat red meat, this could be a good alternative. This dish did remind me of the equally delicious French dish, Coq au vin ( we will cover that next year when I have some time to cook elaborately so that I can teach you how I was taught in France). Of course, the ingredients in this are very different but the passion and the wine when put together does work magic!

This beautiful dish is complex in flavours yet so delightfully simple to make. I thank chef Gino (Gino's Italian Escapes) for this recipe and I hope he will continue to teach us the culinary gems that exist in Italian cuisine.

Here's what you need -

6 -8 leg pieces of chicken (Chef Gino used Lamb)
Make sure you don't use fillet because we will be cooking it for an extended period so the meat can get rubbery. If you are using lamb, use neck or leg.
1 big bay leaf that is bent and sliced slightly to release its aroma
2 big red onions chopped
1 big celery stems chopped to mid-sized pieces, leaves torn and kept aside
1 small bunch of thyme (dried is okay too, use two tablespoons)
3 glasses of full bodied red wine
1 large orange, peel grated to one tablespoon and juice half of it to use.
15 black olives chopped up
2 tablespoons honey
300 ml of tomato puree
Salt to taste
Ground pepper to taste
2 cups shelled green peas
6 potatoes scrubbed clean and then chopped into pieces ( make sure you don't use the ones that are used for purees)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Ciabatta cut into slices
Raw Garlic to rub Ciabatta slices

Method
Add Olive oil in a big deep vessel and heat on low.

Add the chopped onion and some salt.

Stir-fry well till the onions get nicely caramalized.

Add the chicken/lamb pieces next and stir fry for about 5 minutes.

Next add the celery stems, thyme and bay leaf.

Fry well for about 7 minutes.

Add the grated peel of the orange, the chopped olives and mix well.

Add wine next and let it simmer.

Next add honey, orange juice and then the tomato puree.

Mix well and cover.

If using chicken, allow to cook for 20 minutes, if using lamb allow to cook for 30 minutes.

Uncover after the above mentioned time, and add potatoes and green peas.

Mix well, cover and then allow to cook on simmer for an hour.

After an hour, uncover and add the celery leaves.

Cover and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

Cut the ciabatta into thick slices. Lightly toast them on a hot pan.  Peel a garlic cove and cut the edge off so that you have the wet end. Rub the ciabatta slices with this end. Finish doing that with all of the sides and slices.

Serve with the hot Chicken/Lamb.

This dish tastes even better the next day! Hope you enjoy it!