A toasted walnut and egg sauce brings chicken and egg together to make a lovely partnership. Accompany with rice if you wish, although I usually go for a green salad or steamed sprouting broccoli to keep it a little lighter.
Ingredients
- 1 chicken, about 1.6 kg, jointed into 8 pieces
- 25 g butter
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, peeled and finely sliced
- 300 ml dry white wine
- 400 ml chicken stock
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cm cinnamon stick (or 1 tsp ground)
- Freshly grated nutmeg
- 3 large eggs
- 120 g walnut pieces
- 8 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
- A pinch of saffron strands
- 2 limes juice
- A handful of parsley (or a third mint, two-thirds parsley), finely chopped
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
How to Make It
- Have the chicken joints ready to cook. Heat the butter and 3 tbsp olive oil in a flameproof casserole or large frying pan (large enough to later hold the chicken pieces in a single layer). Brown the chicken in batches on both sides, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go. Don’t crowd the pan fry the chicken in small batches, removing the pieces to kitchen paper as they are done.
- Add another 1 tbsp oil to the pan and cook the onions over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until softened but not brown. Return the chicken pieces to the pan, in a single layer. Add the wine, stock, sugar, bay leaves, cinnamon and a generous grating of nutmeg. Bring to a simmer, cover and simmer gently for 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Drain, cool under cold running water, then peel. Cut around the centre of the egg and separate the yolks from the whites.
- Lightly toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium-high heat, shaking the pan. Add the remaining olive oil, then the garlic, and cook for a minute.
- Put the walnuts and garlic, egg yolks, and a few spoonfuls of the cooking liquid into a food processor and whiz to a smoothish paste. Stir this into the pan with the saffron and lime juice. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes or so, until the sauce has thickened. Check the chicken is cooked by piercing the thickest part with a knife to see if the juices run clear. If not, cook for another 5 minutes and check again. Finely chop the egg whites and sprinkle them with the herbs over the chicken.