Chicken Chasseur

This is a lazy take on a classic French dish. It is easy, cheap, warming, filling and delicious.

Ingredients:-
2kg (4 1/2 lbs) chicken portions
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 bulb of garlic (I like garlic a lot. Use less if you don't)
3 large onions
400g (3 1/2 oz) button mushrooms
2 teaspoons dried thyme
400g (14oz) tin chopped tomatoes
100ml (4 fl oz) tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
1 glass white wine
3 tablespoons flour

The ingredients list and instructions are also given in the attached file which should be openable in most word processors if you don't want to download the pdf.

Step 1: Sear the Chicken

Before you start anything, put the oven on to 180C (350F) to pre-heat.

Put the oil into a frying pan and get it nice and hot.

Pat the chicken pieces dry with some kitchen paper.

When the oil is hot, place the chicken pieces into the pan to brown.

After a few minutes, turn them over to brown the other side.

Unless you have an enormous frying pan, you might need to do a couple of batches. As each batch is browned, lay the pieces into the casserole and do the next one.

Step 2: Prepare the Vegetables

Peel the onions, half them and slice into thin strips about 5mm or a quarter of an inch.

Separate the garlic into cloves, and peel each of them. Slice the garlic as thinly as you can without cutting yourself. (If you do cut yourself, move immediately to the next "Sauce" step so that you can bleed into the tomatoes where it won't be noticeable.)

Wash the mushrooms, and chop the end from the stem. Slice each mushroom fairly thinly (5mm/quarter-inch) but not too thin as we need to keep a bit of structural integrity there.

Turn the heat under the frying pan down to medium, and tip the onions and garlic in. Stir around until they are starting to soften.

Add the mushrooms at this point and stir the aliums and fungi together for a few minutes until the mushrooms just start to soften.

Step 3: Sauce

Place the flour and stock into a small bowl and whisk to combine.

If you used too small a bowl, then clean the mess off the kitchen floor and start again with a fresh load of stock. (Voice of experience there: do not use a stick blender in a small Pyrex jug.)

Add the tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and wine, and stir gently with a fork until it has all combined into a uniform consistency.

Add the dried thyme and stir to combine.

Step 4: Bake

Place the onions and mushrooms in a layer atop the chicken pieces.

Ladle the sauce over the top.

Cover with foil or a lid and bake for an hour and a half.

Remove the foil and bake for a further half an hour or until the chicken is cooked.

I have no class, so I serve this with mashed potatoes and standard veges. I'm sure that there are much better accompaniments, so please feel free to suggest in the comments, but this end result is pretty good.