Chicken with Wild Figs and Vin Santo

Heat the oil in a sauté pan large enough to hold all the chicken in one layer. Add the garlic cloves and bacon and sauté over medium heat until lightly golden. Remove and set aside.

Season the chicken. Increase the heat and place the chicken skin side down in the pan. When they have taken on a rich golden colour, turn and colour the other side. Remove the chicken from the pan, and pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the oil and discard.

Add the rosemary and vin santo and allow to bubble up, deglazing* the bottom of the pan. Pour in the stock and add the chicken along with the garlic, bacon and figs. Cover and cook gently for 15-20 minutes or until tender.

Place the chicken on a serving platter, cover lightly and allow to rest. Remove the bacon, garlic and figs. Squeeze six cloves of garlic into the pan and place back on the heat. Mash the garlic into the sauce and bring to the boil. Season to taste and add the parsley along with the bacon, garlic and figs. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve with the potato and Parmesan gratin. Serves 6

*to deglaze – to add wine or stock to a pan in which meat has been browned, allowing it to bubble up and scrape the bottom to release the caramelised bits on the bottom.

Vin Santo: translates to ‘holy wine’. The grapes for this sweet dessert style wine from Italy are harvested late and dried until Holy Week, when they are made into wine.

Wild Figs: small succulent dried figs from Iran – availablefrom speciality stores