My Grandma Lena was one of those people who churned out masses of food every time we visited, and I loved it all. The Jamaican hostess in her I suppose. She made me toast that was like warm bread soaked with butter and spiced cakes that were complicated with allspice and cloves. I don't remember her main courses as well, except for this one because my mum got the recipe and made it at home.
It's deceptively simple this one, the end result tastes like there should be about four more ingredients than there are. If you can't get hold of scotch bonnet peppers, don't worry, it's not critical. You must use chicken thighs though - breast meat doesn't work here. We've found that skin-on thighs go a bit slimy, so it's best to skin them first. Finally, this isn't a quick recipe, so make sure you've got a good hour and a half free.
Grandma Lena's Chicken Fricassee
(serves 2)
6 chicken thighs - boneless or bone-in, preferably skinless
4 medium onions
handful of fresh thyme
olive oil
1 scotch bonnet pepper, whole
Half pint of chicken stock
1. Chop the onions into half moons, and add to a medium frying pan with some olive oil on medium-low heat. A cast iron pan is best, but I don't have one at the moment and use non-stick - it's fine. Cook them down gently until you have a sticky, brown mess.
2. Add the thighs flat side down and turn up the heat a bit to brown them, flipping after a couple minutes.
3. Add the chicken stock, scotch bonnet pepper (DON'T pierce it, we're going for flavour here, not heat) and the fresh thyme to the pan, and turn down the heat. Leave it for an hour, flipping the chicken every so often to keep it moist.
4. Serve the thighs with the gooey onion gravy on top immediately, with rice, mashed potato or noodles.
