Slowly braised chicken on the bone with plenty of herbs and lots of garlic makes for a succulent supper. Serve on lentils to mop up all the juicy flavors.
If you’re going Primal, or very low carb so want to avoid the legumes fear not. Serve with a ton of veg or a rationed baked sweet potato.
Who said low carb cooking was difficult?
It seems I’ve been a little lax about the low carb recipes lately. Time to rectify things today with a super simple, yet totally awesome recipe for stove top braised chicken.
Frankly neither of us could really believe just how good it was. Things so tasty should be more hassle, and use far more ingredients surely? And yeah I know it looks like there are lots of things to do, but honestly none of them are difficult or take any time. In fact, there isn’t even much chopping to keep you busy.
Nope, it turns out minimal recipes really can be divine.
Anyhoo, on with the details…
Braised Chicken With Garlic & Lemon “Gravy” On Tasty Lentils
Relaxing cooking that anyone can manage is the order of the day. Please do use chicken on the bone as you won’t get anything like the same juicy results with boned meat.
The Ingredients:
For the chicken…
- One jointed chicken – bones and skin remain.
- A few tablespoons of olive oil and a good thick slice of butter.
- 10 peeled cloves of garlic, a large sprig of fresh thyme and another of fresh oregano.
- 3 tomatoes halved.
- Half a glass of dry white wine.
- Juice of half a lemon plus salt and pepper.
For the lentils…
- One mug of brown or green lentils.
- A tablespoon of olive oil.
- One small onion and 3 carrots diced.
- A couple of bayleaves, water, salt and black pepper.
The Cooking:
- Heat a little olive oil and half the butter in a heavy wide pan that has a well fitting lid.
- When the butter is foaming add your seasoned chicken pieces. Don’t overcrowd the pan, so do this in batches if your pans aren’t as wide as you’d like. Cook on a medium to high heat to color the chicken without burning it.
- Once the chicken is golden all over throw in the whole garlic cloves and tomatoes and pop the lid on. Cook the chicken on a low heat for 20 minutes.
- In the mean-time get the lentils on. Heat a little olive oil and sweat down the onion and carrot for 10 minutes or so, till soft and getting a little sticky around the edges.
- Add the lentils, bayleaves, seasoning and enough boiling water to cover by around half an inch. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer on the lowest heat till soft but still holding their shape (20 to 40 minutes depending on your lentils). Add a little more water if you feel they are in danger of drying out.
- Once the 20 minutes are up take the tomatoes out from the chicken pot, give the chicken a stir around, pop the lid back on and continue cooking on a low heat.
- The tomatoes will have given up some juice to help keep the poultry moist. Slip their skins off and pop the tomato halves in with the simmering lentils.
- The chicken should be cooked through in another 15 to 25 minutes (depending on the thickness of the portions). When its ready take out the chicken, and turn the heat up to high. Add fresh herbs and the wine. Get stirring up all the sticky bits from the pan. This is your “gravy“, so let it reduce down a little and burn off the alcohol by cooking for around 5 minutes. Get a fork or potato masher and squish the soft sweet garlic into the juices.
- Whilst your sauce is finishing off, fry the chicken pieces in the remaining butter and a little olive oil. It’s cooked through so you just want a quick fry to get the skin crispy. Use a high heat and seal in all the flavors and juices pronto!
- Everything should be ready at around the same time. But don’t worry too much about timings. Lentils are fine hanging around for a bit if they cook quicker than the crunchy chicken.
- Just add the lemon juice to your sauce and spoon over the plated lentils and chicken pieces.
Hopefully, your lentils are luscious, your gravy is gorgeous and your crispy chicken is succulent within!
Oh and both the chicken and the lentils are great in salad for lunch the next day. So do cook more than you need. The volumes above should serve 4, but cook it for a couple of you and you’ve got plenty to keep you going for a few days more.
Hope you agree its as tasty as we did!
