Serve this dish with a side of olive-oil roast potatoes, cooked with rosemary or thyme, or with salad and crusty bread
Diana Henry The Telegraph's award-winning cookery writer
Diana Henry is the Telegraph’s much-loved cookery writer. She shares recipes each week, for everything from speedy family dinners to special menus that friends will remember for months. She is also a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4, and her journalism and recipe books, including Simple and How to Eat a Peach, are multi-award-winning. A mother of two sons, Diana can satisfy even the fussiest of eaters.
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Sherry and garlic are the smells of Spain, of course, but not just because you smell them when you’re there. Sherry smells of warmth, and of complexity – it’s not a one-note ingredient – which backs up what I have felt about Spain as a country. If it’s not a dry one, it can be quite buttery with hints of caramel, especially once you reduce it. Here the sherry vinegar undercuts the sweetness while adding more depth and ‘woodiness’.
This makes an excellent quick dinner. Serve with olive-oil roast potatoes (cooked with either rosemary or thyme), or good bread and a green salad. I know it seems like a pain to keep the thighs on the bone – and in small pieces – but that’s what makes this dish taste so good.
Overview
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
30 mins
Serves
4
Ingredients
- 8-12 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on
- 1 head of garlic, plus 4 finely chopped cloves
- olive oil, for cooking
- 2 tsp sherry vinegar
- 125ml sherry (amontillado or oloroso, not cream sherry)
- handful of finely chopped parsley leaves, to serve
Method
Step
Using a meat cleaver or a heavy, sharp knife, cut 8-12 chicken thighs (bone in, skin on) into 5cm pieces, leaving the bone in. Check to see that there aren’t any little splinters of bone where you made the cuts. Sprinkle with salt and leave for 10 minutes.
Step
Separate the cloves from 1 head of garlic, but don’t peel them. Press each one hard with the side of a heavy knife and the heel of your hand to crush them a little and break the skin.
Step
Heat about 2cm olive oil in a large frying pan until really hot.
Step
Add the chicken and whole garlic cloves and cook over a high heat – so they get a good colour – for 4 minutes. Keep the chicken and garlic on the move the whole time.
Step
Turn the heat down a little, and cook for another 10 minutes or so, turning the chicken every so often.
Step
Drain everything in a large sieve to get rid of all but ½ tbsp of oil (don’t wash the pan).
Step
Add 4 finely chopped garlic cloves to the pan and cook gently for a minute (you don’t want the garlic to burn), then add 2 tsp sherry vinegar and 125ml sherry.
Step
Bring to the boil, scraping the base of the pan with a wooden spoon, lower the heat and put the chicken back. Season.
Step
Heat the chicken through and allow the sherry to reduce so that it just coats the meat.
Step
Scatter a handful of finely chopped parsley leaves over the top and serve.