Long-Cooked Hen in Tomato Sauce

Submitted by Brookelynne26

"Found on Napastyle.com. If you have access to a stewing hen use it, otherwise a supermarket chicken is fine."

 

• Ready In: 3hrs
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 1⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 1 cup diced celery
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• sea salt, preferably gray salt
• 2 cups red wine
• 6 (28 ounce) cans whole tomatoes, pulsed in a blender
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 chicken, about 4 pounds
• 1⁄2 cup minced fresh basil
• 1⁄4 cup minced fresh Italian parsley (flat-leaf)

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over high heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bay leaves, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes, then reduce the heat to moderate and cook until the vegetables are lightly browned, about 20 minutes more.
3. Add the wine and scrape the pan bottom with a wooden spoon to loosen any flavorful stuck-on bits. Add the tomatoes, 1 tablespoon salt, and pepper to taste. Taste and add more salt if needed. It is important to add enough salt, so that the chicken seasons as it cooks.
4. Place the chicken, breast side down, in the sauce, and bring the sauce to a simmer. Transfer the pot to the oven. Cook, uncovered, until the chicken is very tender, about 2 hours, spooning the sauce over the chicken from time to time. Stir in the basil and parsley and cook for 15 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and let the chicken cool in the sauce.
5. Serve the chicken warm with a little sauce spooned over it, or reheat the sauce separately and serve it over pasta as a first course with the chicken as a main course.

Reviews

[stgmngrjan]

Delicious and simple. The house smells wonderful after cooking this. I only use 5 large cans of tomatoes as that is what fit into my cooking dish. I used immersion blender on tomatoes before cooking, just a little. Afterwards, used it again to blend the tomatoes I missed the first go-round.<br/>Thanks so much,<br/>Jan