Robin Ellis

A bowl of cherry tomatoes waiting their turn, reminded me of this delicious Marcella Hazan recipe–a different summer way with chicken.

The sweetness of the cherry toms is cut by the little black olives from Nice. Meredith bought some last week.

And rosemary is cascading in the garden.

for 4

a free range chicken–cut up in 8/10 pieces

1 tablespoon of olive oil

5 cloves of garlic–peeled and left whole

2 teaspoons of rosemary needles–chopped fine

salt and pepper

4fl oz/100ml white wine

20+ cherry tomatoes

a handful of black nicoise olives 

Trim the excess fat and some of the loose skin from the chicken–tidying it up.

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan with a lid.

Add the rosemary and garlic.

Put in the chicken pieces skin side down and sauté them over a medium high heat.

Nudge them with a spoon after 2 to 3 of minutes–when they move easily without sticking to the pan look to see if they’ve nicely browned. At that point, turn them over and repeat on the reverse side.

When you have a pan of golden chicken pieces season them generously and add the wine.

Let it bubble a little–then cover the pan and cook the chicken for about 30 minutes on a low heat–turning the pieces from time to time to keep them moist. Add a tablespoon or two of water if needed.

Add the tomatoes and olives and cover the pan again.

Cook until the skin of the tomatoes show signs of splitting.