Chicken Thigh & Olive Casserole

Ingredients

• 8 bone-in chicken thighs, skin on
• 150 g pitted green or kalamata olives
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 200 ml dry white wine
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 rosemary sprigs
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp capers, rinsed
• salt and black pepper
• crusty sourdough bread, to serve

Method

1. Pat the chicken thighs completely dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Season generously on both sides with salt, pepper, and the smoked paprika, working it into the skin. Bloom the paprika happens in the pan, but a dry, well-seasoned skin is what gets you there.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large, wide casserole over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Lay the thighs in skin-side down in two batches — don't crowd the pan. All eight at once and the temperature drops, water leaches out, and you've stewed the skin instead of crisping it. Brown for 6–7 minutes per batch until the skin is deep mahogany and releases easily from the base. Flip for 2 minutes more, then lift out and set aside.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the rendered fat. Add the sliced onion and diced red pepper and cook for 7–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until softened and starting to catch gold at the edges. Add the sliced garlic, rosemary sprigs and dried thyme. Cook for 30 seconds, no more, just until fragrant — burnt garlic turns the whole casserole bitter, so watch it.
4. Pour in the white wine and let it bubble hard, scraping up every caramelised stuck bit from the base of the pan with a wooden spoon. That fond is your flavour foundation. Simmer for 2 minutes until the raw alcohol smell has gone and the liquid looks syrupy.
5. Tip in the chopped tomatoes, the rinsed lentils, and the chicken stock — the stock is doing the real work here, breaking the tomatoes down so they taste of fruit rather than tin. Bring to a steady simmer and taste the sauce. Season now with salt and pepper; the olives and capers will bring more salt later, but the base needs its own backbone.
6. Nestle the chicken thighs back in skin-side up, so the skin sits proud of the sauce and stays crisp. Scatter the olives and capers around them. Cover with a lid and cook over low heat for 35 minutes, giving the sauce a gentle stir once or twice so the lentils don't catch on the base.
7. Lift the lid and cook for a further 10–12 minutes until the sauce has reduced to a glossy, spoonable consistency and the skin has firmed up again. The chicken is ready when the meat pulls easily from the bone and the lentils have melted into the sauce. Fish out the rosemary sprigs. Taste, season, taste again — adjust now, not at the table.
8. Bring the casserole straight to the table. Tear basil leaves over the top, drizzle with grassy extra virgin olive oil, and serve with torn hunks of crusty bread for mopping the sauce.