Chicken with beer & chicory

Ingredients

• 1 x 1.5kg chicken, jointed
• 2 tbsp seasoned flour
• 2 white chicory heads, halved lengthways
• 12 baby onions
• 1 large carrot
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
• 75g unsalted butter
• 330ml pale ale
• 200ml chicken stock
• 200ml double cream
• A pinch of caster sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• A handful of chopped parsley

Method

Dust the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour and brown thoroughly in a thick-bottomed frying pan over a medium heat with a good glug of olive oil.

Peel the baby onions, leaving a little stalk on to keep them whole. Peel and thickly slice the carrots.

When the chicken is browned, add half the butter, the onions, carrots, garlic and bay leaf and cook for a further 3 mins.

Add the beer and allow this to reduce by half, scraping the sediment from the bottom of the pan. Place a lid or cover the pan tightly with foil and cook very gently for 15 mins.

Sprinkle the endive halves with caster sugar, heat the remaining butter in a frying pan and over a medium heat fry the endive, cut side down, for 2-3 mins until they have a light golden colour. Flip over and cook on the reverse for 1 min, add the chicken stock and simmer for 5 mins.

Preheat the oven to 140C. Transfer the chicken to a casserole dish, add the chicory, cream and buttery stock juices and cook for a further 30 mins until the chicken is very tender. Add the chopped parsley, check the seasoning and serve in a warmed serving dish with crusty bread to mop up the sauce and a few chilled beers.

Image: Adrian Franklin