Cider-Braised Chicken

From a blog called The Bite House. I need to remember to pick up a bottle of dry hard cider next time I'm out and about. The picture on the blog looks particularly appealing. I think this would be delicious with potatoes, rice, barley and a green vegetable. The recipe was rewritten slightly for clarity. Update: I used four chicken thighs, and pretty much all the sauce ingredients and did not cook anywhere as long.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 20 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1  whole chicken, cut in 8 pieces
• 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
•  oil
• 2  cups hard alcoholic cider
• 1⁄2 cup tomato sauce
• 1  medium leek, sliced
• 4  tablespoons heavy cream
• 1  bay leaf
•  salt, to taste
•  ground black pepper, to taste
•  chopped parsley (garnish) or   chopped chives (garnish)

Directions

1. Dust the chicken with the flour.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet and sear the chicken pieces for a few minutes on each side until they are golden brown.
3. Transfer the chicken to a medium-sized pot and deglaze the skillet with half of the cider (1 cup). Let it simmer for a minute then add it to the chicken with the rest of the cider, leek, tomato sauce and bay leaf.
4. Simmer on low heat, partially covered, for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. (I did not cook this long - more like 40 minutes, perhaps my heat was not as low).
5. Add the cream, cook to heat through, and throw on some chopped parsley or chives.