Serves 4

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 40 min

4 chicken legs
2 carrots
2 garlic cloves
1 onion
2 strips of lemon zest
Stalks from parsley (see below)
1 red chilli
8 organic chicken thighs

For the salsa verde:
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp smooth Dijon mustard
6 anchovy fillets
1 tbsp of capers in vinegar
80g bunch flat-leaf parsley
A few basil and/or mint leaves

To serve: new potatoes and runner beans

METHOD

Scrape and chunk the carrot. Smack the garlic with your fist to loosen the skin. Trim, halve and slice the onion – don’t peel, the skins add colour to stock – and pick leaves off parsley stalks. Place carrot, garlic, onion, chilli, lemon zest and parsley stalks in a pan with 1½ litres cold water. Add 1 tsp salt and a few peppercorns and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, make the salsa verde. Peel the garlic, coarsely chop and dust with a generous pinch of salt. Use the flat of a knife to work to a paste. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor together with the mustard, anchovies, squeezed capers and flat-leaf parsley leaves.

Blitz briefly, scraping down the inside of the bowl then, with the motor running, add the olive oil in a thin stream to make a thick, voluptuous rustic sauce. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Simmer the liquid for 15 mins, add the chicken, return to simmer and cook gently for 15 mins. Leave, covered, in the pan until ready to serve – it will stay hot without deteriorating for an hour. Lift the chicken out of the pan, remove the skin and serve with a dollop of salsa verde, new potatoes and beans.

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