Chicken Tartiflette

by Monica Galetti from The Skills (Hardie Grant/Quadrille)

Photography: Cristian Barnett

Serves 4

Prep time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 80mins

Ingredients

Chicken

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium chicken, about 1.5kg, jointed into 8 pieces

(Nigel says or buy the pieces - 2 breast, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 drumsticks)

1 onion, sliced

1 head of garlic, cut in half horizontally

200ml white wine

2 Litres chicken stock (can use a stock cube or diluted jelly)

1 thyme sprig

2 fresh or dried bay leaves

Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Tartiflette

1kg waxy potatoes, such as Charlotte, sliced 1cm thick

2tbsp olive oil

200g smoked bacon lardons

1 large onion, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, chopped

50g plain flour

300ml double cream

400g curly kale, blanched & roughly chopped

300g Reblochon cheese, broken into pieces, plus 100g extra for the top (substitute with Le Gruyère, Camembert or Brie if you can’t get Reblochon)

Method

Heat a large sauté pan on a high heat, add the olive oil then the chicken pieces, skin-side down, & colour all over for 5 mins. Remove the chicken from the pan & add the onion & garlic, sweating the onion until softened. Add the white wine & reduce until almost evaporated. Add the chicken stock, thyme & bay. Season with salt & pepper & bring the liquid to a very low simmer.

Add the chicken pieces & cook very gently until the breast pieces are just cooked, about 10 mins. Remove the breast pieces from the pan with some of the broth & leave to cool in the broth. Continue to simmer the leg meat until cooked, about another 30 mins.

Take off the heat & leave to cool in the broth.

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6. For the tartiflette, simmer the potato slices in boiling, salted water until almost tender, then drain & set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the lardons & cook until coloured, then remove from the pan & add the onion. Cook until translucent, then stir in the garlic. Add the flour & cook for 2 mins. Add the cream with 200ml of the reserved strained chicken braising liquid & slowly bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat & season with salt & black pepper.

Remove the chicken meat from the bones & cut into large pieces. Fold the chicken through the cream mixture, along with the kale, the 300g cheese, lardons & the potatoes.

Put into a baking dish, top with 100g cheese & bake until golden brown.

Nigel says: The final baking until golden brown should take 25-30 mins. Keep an eye on it!