Ligurian chicken with olives and pine nuts

Adapted from an Italian cookbook, where the dish is originally made with rabbit and offal.

Ingredients

• bone-in chicken (thighs, drumsticks) — 1 kg
• pitted Taggiasca olives — 50 g
• pine nuts — 3 tbsp
• dry white wine — 100 ml
• extra virgin olive oil — 7 tbsp
• carrot — 1
• celery — 1 stalk
• onion — 1/2
• dried bay leaf — 1
• rosemary — 2 sprigs
• thyme — 1 sprig
• salt — to taste

Method

1. Make a light stock from chicken bones or wings with the carrot, celery, onion and a pinch of salt. Simmer for about 30 minutes.
2. Fry the chicken pieces in 3 tbsp of olive oil over a high heat until golden all over. Transfer to a plate.
3. Add the remaining oil to the same pan and fry the rosemary and thyme for a couple of minutes.
4. Return the chicken to the pan, add the pine nuts, olives and bay leaf and pour in half a glass of wine. Let the alcohol cook off, then add the rest of the wine. Simmer for 5 minutes and remove the bay leaf.
5. Transfer to a baking dish, pour in a glass of stock and cook over a low heat for 45–50 minutes, topping up with stock as it reduces.
6. The sauce should end up thick and velvety, with the meat falling off the bone.