Pollo alla Cacciatora

Ingredients

• 1.4kg free-range chicken, jointed into 8 pieces
• 1 white onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stick
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 4 sage leaves
• 60ml extra virgin olive oil
• 180ml dry red wine
• 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
• 100g black olives, pitted
• 200ml hot chicken stock or water
• Salt and black pepper

Before you cook

• Pat the chicken pieces thoroughly dry and season them all over with salt and pepper.
• Chop the onion, carrot and celery finely.
• Peel the garlic cloves and crush them lightly, leaving them whole.
• Strip the rosemary needles from the sprig and chop them together with the sage.

Steps

1. Warm the olive oil in a wide heavy pan over a medium heat.
2. Lay the chicken pieces in skin side down and brown them for six to eight minutes without moving them.
3. Turn the pieces and brown the other side for four minutes.
4. Lift the chicken out onto a plate.
5. Lower the heat and add the chopped onion, carrot, celery and garlic to the fat in the pan.
6. Cook the vegetables gently for ten minutes, stirring, until soft and just beginning to colour.
7. Stir in the chopped rosemary and sage and cook for one minute, until fragrant.
8. Return the chicken to the pan along with any juices from the plate.
9. Pour in the red wine and let it bubble for three minutes, until the sharpness burns off.
10. Add the tomatoes and the hot stock, then season with salt and pepper.
11. Bring the pan to a simmer, cover it, and cook gently for 40 minutes, turning the pieces once.
12. Add the olives and cook uncovered for a further 15 minutes, so the sauce reduces and clings.
13. Check that the thigh meat pulls easily from the bone, and give it another ten minutes if it does not.
14. Rest the pan off the heat for five minutes, then serve with bread to mop up the sauce.