It’s been a while. Not that I haven’t been cooking and eating out, although that’s happened a little less in the style and frequency I would have wanted, but c’est la vie. I’m back. I wasn’t even planning on writing another entry, but when I suggested what I wanted to cook tonight to Ms R, who is not necessarily know for her adventurous palate, I had the response ‘only if you blog about it’. So there you go.

A stunning, sunny morning made me think twice whether an autumnal, casserole type dish was appropriate for dinner, but good old blighty obliged with grey skies and constant rain all afternoon and evening.

The recipe is mostly based on one in the ‘Borough Market Cookbook - Meat & Fish’, although I didn’t exactly stick to it. My version is as below.

Chicken with Wild Boar & Perry (serves 3-4):

4 slices of wild boar bacon (or normal streaky bacon or pancetta)

6-8 pieces chicken (I used boneless, skinless thighs)

Glug of extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Few shakes of dried oregano

3 large shallots

Pint perry or cider

2 rosemary sprigs

Salt

Pepper

A small celeriac

1 large carrot

2 medium potatoes

Stick the oven on around 200C (Gas mk 6 or 400F). Then, using a reasonably deep casserole pan, heat the olive oil, chop the slices of wild boar into and fry until browned. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Season the chicken with plenty of salt, pepper and the oregano before putting in the pan and again, frying until browned on both sides (about 4-5 mins per side). You may have to do this in batches if all the chicken pieces don’t fit in the pan at the same time. Remove and put to the side once browned.

Slice the shallots and fry in the pan until browned, then add the perry, bring to the boil and reduce by about half. Whilst the perry is reduced, peel and cut the celeriac in half, then slice about 1cm thick. Slice the potatoes to the same size. Cut the carrot in half, then thickly slice, lengthways.

Once the perry has reduced, place the chicken pieces in the sauce, then sprinkle the wild boar over the top. Layer the veg on top of the wild boar in the order of potato, carrot & celeriac. Put the lid on the casserole pan and stick in the oven for 40 mins.

When the veg is cooked, remove and place on the plates, before adding the chicken on top and finally, adding a spoonful or two of the sauce. You can reduce the sauce further if you like, but at this point of a meal, asking me to wait another 5 or minutes is like asking the tide to stop turning.

The final dish was very good and a bit nicer than I was expecting. I’m not a huge fan of root veg, but effectively steaming it in perry retained the bite and gave a lovely flavour. The  rest of the dish was also excellent, although I think using wild boar is not really necessary and probably one of those ingredients you use when you want to impress or are on ‘Come Dine with Me’. Normal bacon would work equally well, as would cider instead of the perry, I expect.