Ingredients

The following ingredients have 4 Servings
  • 1 TB lard
  • 6 large chicken thighs
  • salt
  • 175 g streaky smoked bacon (diced)
  • 1 onion (peeled and finely chopped)
  • 4 cloves garlic (peeled and finely chopped)
  • 100 g Cabanossi sausage (chopped)
  • 1/2 TB cayenne pepper
  • 250 g chicken stock
  • 100 g baby spinach
  • 50 g sour cream
  • 150 g double cream
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • chopped parsley (to garnish)

Instruction

  • Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan oven). This is 220°C for conventional ovens (or 425°F / gas mark 7).
  • Have all your ingredients prepped and ready. In professional kitchens, we call this mis-en-place, and its a good habit to get into to become a stress-free cook. Lightly season both sides of all the chicken thighs with salt.
  • Mis-en-place also forces you to pay attention to weighing / measuring your ingredients to stick to your macros.
  • Using a large non-stick pan, (that can be used both on the stove top AND inside the oven) heat the lard. Once hot, fry the chicken pieces skin-side down over high heat until the skins are golden and crispy.
  • Turn over and cook the underside for one minute. Remove the chicken using tongs and set aside, skin-side up.
  • There will be plenty of rendered fat remaining in the pan, so you need not add any more. Add the bacon to the pan and cook over moderate heat until they have cooked through. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions have softened completely. Stir regularly to avoid the garlic burning.
  • Add the chopped Cabanossi sausage and cayenne pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously.
  • Pour in the warm chicken stock and add the spinach. Stir well until the spinach wilts into the mixture.
  • Return the chicken pieces to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes.
  • After 10 minutes, remove the chicken pieces again and stir in the sour cream and double cream.
  • Place the chicken pieces back into the creamy mix and bake in the oven for approximately 18-20 minutes. This will be enough time to cook the chicken through, reduce the sauce a little and crisp the chicken skin further. (A meat thermometer probe is useful here, remove from the oven when the internal temperature reads 72°C / 163°F in the thickest part of the chicken.)
  • Serve as is, or over Cauliflower Mash, Cauliflower Rice or shirataki / konjac noodles.