Late home from work again, so needed something I could just ‘let cook’ whilst I unwound and forgot the tensions of the day!

This meal has ‘comfort’ written all over it. The classic combination of garden sage & chicken marries beautifully with the saltiness of smoked bacon and richness of double-cream. Al dente green-vegetables finish it off perfectly, providing that all-important variation in texture & bite. Low-carb, low effort, maximum taste!

So how to make it…

Salt the skins of the chicken with a good quality sea-salt. Add pepper and chopped sage (fresh or dried), then place into a hot oven for minimum one hour until the skins are golden and crisp.

In a sauté pan, brown your diced smoked-bacon / lardons. When they start to caramelise, add a thinly sliced onion and crushed garlic (quantity to preference, I used x2 cloves for 4 portions). You can then stir in some sliced mushrooms. You may need to add some butter / oil to prevent the mix from sticking. Cook on a low heat until all is soft.

Once softened, turn up the heat and de-glaze the pan with a little white-wine or dry vermouth. Why vermouth? It has a strong taste, so you don’t need as much (better for the carb count), plus it can stay in the cupboard and only come out for cooking purposes. Opening a bottle of wine means you need to drink it; and white wine is NOT GOOD on a low carb diet!

Crumble in a chicken stock-cube and pour in enough water so that the vegetables are ‘shoulder-height’ in the pan. Allow to reduce to half its volume.

Meanwhile boil some water for your broccoli and peas. Blanch / steam these for circa 2 minutes then drain. Take the chicken out of the oven and serve alongside the vegetables. Finish the sauce with some double-cream and chopped herbs. Et voila! The perfect low-carb dinner that just begs for seconds!

Thank you for reading & bon ap!

Adam.