Cooked entirely on the hob, Delia Smith’s chicken chasseur is chicken legs browned and gently simmered in red wine with tomatoes, garlic, thyme and rosemary, here made for 4. Mushrooms are pushed into the sauce for the last 10 minutes, then it’s boiled down until thick and poured over the chicken.
One is Fun is the book she wrote for people cooking just for themselves, so the recipe there is for a single chicken quarter. Every amount on the card is hers multiplied by 4, and the method and timings are hers too.
She serves it simply, with rice. What comes to the table is chicken on the bone in a dark, glossy sauce of wine and tomato, with soft pieces of mushroom and a hint of rosemary.
Delia Smith’s Chicken Chasseur, Made for 4
Course: DinnerCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Easy4
servings15
minutes1
hour15
minutes735
kcalEvery amount from her single-serving recipe multiplied by 4, with chicken legs simmered in red wine, tomatoes and herbs and finished with mushrooms.
Ingredients
- For the chicken chasseur:
4 chicken quarters (leg and thigh joints)
4 teaspoons plain flour
4 tablespoons oil
4 small onions, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons chopped thyme leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons bruised and chopped rosemary, or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
440ml (16fl oz) red wine
16 tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 16 dessertspoons of tinned chopped Italian tomatoes
200g (8oz) dark-gilled mushrooms, cut into 1cm (½in) pieces
salt and freshly milled black pepper
Directions
- Joints: Divide each chicken quarter in two. Lay it skin side up, stretch out the leg as far as it goes and cut through the natural line between the leg and the thigh. Season the pieces and dust each one with flour.
- Brown: Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole and brown the joints on all sides, in two batches, then lift them onto a plate.
- Onions: Fry the onions and garlic in the casserole for about 5 minutes, until pale gold.
- Sauce: Stir in the herbs, then the wine and tomatoes, and bring it up to simmering point. Put the chicken back in and add the bay leaves.
- Simmer: Put on a tight-fitting lid and simmer as gently as possible for 40 minutes.
- Mushrooms: Take off the lid, turn the chicken pieces over and add the mushrooms, pushing them well down into the sauce. Simmer gently without the lid for about 10 minutes.
- Reduce: Lift the chicken onto a serving dish and keep it warm. Turn up the heat and let the sauce bubble until thick and concentrated, about 8 to 10 minutes for this amount. Take out the bay leaves, check the seasoning and pour the sauce over the chicken.
Notes
- Every amount is her recipe for one multiplied by 4, which is my own scaling. Her steps and simmering times are unchanged, but her 3 to 4 minutes of boiling at the end becomes about 8 to 10 for four times the sauce, my own timing.
- A casserole of about 3.5 litres (6 pints) holds the 8 joints. I brown them in two batches so they colour well rather than steam, which is my own advice.
- Sixteen dessertspoons of tinned tomatoes is about 160ml, a little under half a 400g tin, by my own conversion.
- Check the thickest piece near the bone before serving: the juices should run clear with no pink, which is my own safety check.
FAQs
What are the amounts for one person?
Her One is Fun recipe uses 1 chicken quarter, 1 teaspoon of flour, 1 tablespoon of oil, 1 small onion and 1 clove of garlic. The herbs are ½ teaspoon each of fresh thyme and rosemary (or ¼ teaspoon dried), with 110ml (4fl oz) of red wine, 4 tomatoes or 4 dessertspoons of tinned, 1 bay leaf and 50g (2oz) of dark-gilled mushrooms.
She cooks it in a small flameproof casserole or a thick-based saucepan. The timings match the card, apart from the final boil, which takes just 3 to 4 minutes for one.
Why is the sauce boiled hard at the end?
That’s where the flavour comes from. She explains in One is Fun that a strongly reduced sauce is what gives the dish its very pronounced taste.
Lifting the chicken out first lets the sauce bubble fast without the meat overcooking, which is my own reading of her method.
Can I use white wine instead of red?
You can, though hers is a red wine dish. For a white wine version with tomatoes and mushrooms, our chicken marengo is built from her cacciatora method and cooked in dry white wine.
If you swap the wine here, keep the same 440ml and the same timings, my own suggestion.
What are dark-gilled mushrooms?
Open or flat mushrooms whose gills have turned dark brown, rather than tight white buttons. To my mind they’re what make the sauce so dark, and chestnut mushrooms are the closest swap.
Is it the same as hunter’s chicken?
Not quite. Chasseur is French for hunter, so the names match, but in Britain hunter’s chicken usually means chicken breast wrapped in bacon and baked with barbecue sauce and cheese.
That dish isn’t in any of her books I’ve checked, and the two share little beyond the chicken and the name. If it’s the barbecue sauce you’re after, her own chicken in barbecue sauce bakes the joints in cider, soy and ginger.
Does it reheat well?
Yes. I’d stop after step 6, cool it and chill it within 2 hours, then reheat it gently until piping hot before lifting out the chicken and boiling down the sauce.
It keeps for 2 days in the fridge at most, my own limit for cooked chicken in sauce.
