Do you like Jamie Oliver? He came into my frame of reference about a year ago; before that he sat in the black hole in my mind reserved for TV-celebrity chefs: I knew of him, would sometimes catch a show (absentmindedly while doing laundry) but I didn’t cook from his recipes. After a while, though, I found myself waking up at 7:30 on Saturday mornings to watch the reruns of his show Jamie at Home, looking forward to it for days really, to wake up before anyone else and make a cup of coffee and sit and watch his show, deciding what to cook for dinner.
Thankfully we’ve gotten Tivo since then, because waking up at 7:30 on a weekend never feels as nice when the afternoon rolls around and you want to nap, and I can record, and save, all of Jamie’s shows. Jim’s convinced that I just like to watch Jamie and his cute British slang, but really it’s (well mostly it’s) the food. It’s home-cooking, the way home-cooking should be. There’s an attention to detail without being fussy; an attention to the right details, really, the ones that will help to make the food taste better. A lot of his dishes are rather ugly, plebeian-looking things. But the flavors are there, present and beautiful.
This chicken and mushroom dish became my favorite Jamie Oliver dish. It’s unabashedly simple. You fry up some vegetables in chicken fat, then add mushrooms and cook until they are dry. Then you add some chicken pieces, nutmeg, herbs, wine, and sliced par-boiled potatoes. The dish ends up akin to a shepherd’s pie, with browned, roast potatoes subbing for mashed (a substitution that suits me well) and a warm, earthy flavor that’s perfect for a cool May night, just when you thought summer was about to come and all of a sudden it’s 50 degrees out there.
Jamie Oliver’s cooking no longer sits in the black-hole and I’m a bit sad for how long it took me to come around. If you’re a home cook who hasn’t been introduced to the man yet, I urge you to try this dish. (If you can find lovage, which is the herb used in Jamie’s recipe, try it with that too.) I also urge you to Tivo some of his shows. His British slang is pretty adorable.
Chicken, Mushroom, and Potato Hot Pot
adapted from Jamie Oliver’s website
serves 4
6 medium potatoes, skins on
2 big handfuls mixed wild mushrooms, or 3 portobello mushrooms
6 chicken thighs, 3 chicken drumsticks
1 red onions, peeled
1 celery sticks
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tbsp plain flour
a few sprigs parsley and thyme, leaves picked
freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
salt, pepper
chicken stock, homemade (made with the bones in this recipe if you don’t have any on hand)
splash of dry vermouth
a little melted butter
Cook potatoes in salted boiling water until just tender. Drain and cool.
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Take skin off chicken thighs and drumsticks and cut meat from the bones, saving a few pieces of skin and the bones for stock (made now if you don’t have homemade stock on hand or saved for later.)
In a large oven-proof skillet or braiser, add some of the chicken skin and render the fat. Once rendered, remove the skin and add onion, celery, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until most of the moisture has evaporated. Add mushrooms and cook over medium heat until all the moisture has evaporated. Add chicken and then vermouth and cook it down. Add flour and stir to combine, then add a tablespoon or two of stock to make a thick gravy. Add herbs, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
Arrange potato slices on top of skillet, as pretty as you can manage. Brush some melted butter over potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Place skillet in the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes, until potatoes are golden browned and chicken is cooked through and tender.
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