Italian Chicken

By Shardman

Italian style chicken baked with basil, tomatoes and bacon, finished with parmesan cheese.
One of the best things I've ever cooked!

Ingredients

• For the sauce:
• Olive oil
• 2 Onions finely chopped
• 1 stick of celery finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic crushed and chopped
• 2 400g tins of tomatoes
• 3 tbsp of tomato purée
• Splash of red wine
• 2 heaped teaspoons of dried Italian mixed herbs
• 1 tbsp of sugar
• A large handful of fresh basil
• Salt and pepper,
• For the chicken:
• 6-8 Chicken thighs skinned
• 6-8 rashers of smoked bacon, 1 per thigh
• Parmesan and fresh basil to finish

Preparation

Step 1

For the sauce:

Put a large saucepan on the hob with a good splash of olive oil.

Fry the onions and celery until softened then add the garlic, fry for 2 minutes more.

Tip all the remaining ingredients into the pan and simmer gently for a good half hour until the liquid has reduced and become quite thick.

Finally stir through plenty of basil, season to taste and remove from the heat.

For the chicken:

Preheat your oven to 375f/190c/gas 5

Wrap each chicken thigh in a rasher of bacon and place in a baking tray.

Pour over the tomato sauce mixture and spread evenly.

Bake for 45 - 60 minutes, remove from the oven and cover with a generous handful of parmesan cheese. return to the oven for 5 minutes until the cheese has melted.

Remove from the oven, sprinkle with fresh basil and serve.