David, also known as Curious Davide (from his time living in Italy) is the youngest member of our family and is famed for his ability to sleep 16 hours a day. He is unknowingly filling the slot for this weekend’s recipe, but fear not as he is a bit of a master-chef in his own right. I hope to make him more of a regular for Curious Food if he is still friends with me after seeing this post.

His journey in the world of cookery started during his three years spent at Liverpool University, where after a month of takeaway pizzas and doner kebabs he felt a need to learn the ropes of cookery in the home.

His true speciality in my opinion is Indian curry, although his range of skills and knowledge only grew further with 6 months spent in southern Italy where he quickly picked up the language and a taste for Nero d’Avola, as well as learning the cuisine inside and out, and importantly, the value of fresh local produce.

With all the sleeping, he had plenty of time to dream up chicken in lager. Neither Italian nor Indian, it is nonetheless fantastically warm and comforting. The kind of food that’s easy to cook on mass and you can just let people dive in.

Chicken in Lager (serves 4)

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 onions, sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 large chicken, separated into portions (or 6-8 portions, thighs, drumsticks etc.)
1 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp ground cumin
300ml lager
200ml chicken stock (from a cube is fine)
2 bay leaves
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco sauce
large handful frozen peas (optional)
2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper, to season
plain boiled rice & sour cream (optional), to serve

How to cook it (preferably when you’re awake)

Heat the olive oil over a medium-heat in a large pan. Put in the fennel seeds and stir around for 1 minute. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomato purée and the chicken thighs, continue to cook for another 5 minutes until the chicken starts to brown.  Make sure to add a little extra olive oil if the mixture is too dry. Add the flour and cumin and cook for a further 1 minute, stirring constantly to avoid catching. Pour in the beer and chicken stock along with the bay leaves & a few good shakes (to taste) of worcestershire & tabasco and stir thoroughly.

Bring the pan to a gentle simmer and cook for 25-30 minutes until the chicken is completely cooked through, adding the peas (if using) 5 minutes from the end. If the sauce isn’t of desired consistency, you can set the chicken aside from the pan in a clean bowl and boil the sauce rapidly if it’s too thin, or add a little more lager and/or stock if it’s too thick. Then return the chicken to the pan and make sure it’s heated through. Mix the parsley into the pan and season generously with salt & pepper (remembering to adjust the seasoning accordingly if a stock cube was used).

Serve with plain boiled rice & a big dollop of sour cream per portion if you fancy.

The wine match

If you’re like David or myself, you’ll have cracked into the beer during the cooking, so what should we be drinking with the meal itself? Whatever you want, although having made this myself I would go with a New World Chardonnay. There’s nothing massively prominent. It’s not a hot dish, but it’s got plenty of body and texture that our lightly-oaked Waipara Springs Chardonnay will handle beautifully.

And there’s 20% off until the end of August as part of our New Zealand wine sale (indicated prices discounted at checkout).