One-Pot Chicken Chasseur

A great family dish which shows how tasty a simple casserole of chicken thighs can be - succulent mushrooms and melt-in-the-mouth chicken - all served in a fragrant and delicious gravy.

Ingredients (serves 4):
4 chicken legs, to be washed and pat dry
salt & ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp olive oil
20 g butter

300 g small button mushrooms or brown mushrooms, to be cleaned and left whole or cut into 4
1 medium-sized onion, to be peeled and cut into fine wedges
3 pips of garlic, to be peeled and crushed
150 ml red wine (optional - I omitted this)
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 sprigs of thyme or 1 tsp of dried thyme
500 ml chicken stock

Method:
Season chicken legs with salt and ground black pepper to taste.  In a large pan, heat olive oil and half of butter over medium heat.  Add chicken legs and fry for about 5 minutes each side or until golden brown.  Remove to a tray and set aside.

Melt rest of butter in pan and add onion wedges.  Fry until soft before adding the crushed garlic.  Fry for about 1 minute before adding the mushrooms.  Cook for a further 2 minutes and then, add wine.

Add tomato puree and let gravy simmer and reduce for about 5 minutes.  Then, add in thyme and chicken stock.  Return the chicken legs to pan and put on lid.  Simmer over low/medium heat for about an hour.

Remove chicken from pan and keep warm by covering with aluminium foil.  Boil gravy for about 10 minutes or until the flavour is concentrated.  You may add a mixture of cornflour/water mixture to thicken the gravy a bit, if you wish.

Return the chicken legs to pan and heat through.  Serve with baguette or potato dumplings.

Bon Appetit!