- 2 onions
- 1 carrot
- 1 red pepper
- 35g sun dried tomatoes
- 2 chicken thighs & 2 chicken drumsticks
- 2 garlic cloves
- A handful of rosemary, leaves only
- A handful of flat leaf parsley
- 250g cherry tomatoes
- 150g pearl barley
- 1 chicken stock cube
- 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 750ml boiling water
- 1.
Peel and finely slice the onions. Scrub the carrot and dice it. Halve the pepper and scrape out the seeds and membrane. Slice into 1cm strips. Roughly chop the sun dried tomatoes.
- 2.
Pour 1 tbsp oil into a large pan and bring to a high heat. Sprinkle a generous pinch of salt and pepper onto the chicken thighs and drumsticks. When the pan is hot, carefully add the chicken. Fry for 5 mins, turning once or twice, till golden brown. Use tongs to transfer the chicken to a plate, then lower the temperature to medium.
- 3.
While the chicken fries, peel and crush or grate the garlic. Pick the rosemary leaves off their stalks and finely chop the leaves. Separate the parsley leaves and stalks (keep the leaves for later), and finely chop the stalks.
- 4.
Slide the onions, pepper, carrot, garlic, parsley and rosemary into the pan. Cook for 5 mins, stirring occasionally, till slightly softened.
- 5.
While the veg are cooking, halve the cherry tomatoes. Add them to the pan along with the sun dried tomatoes and pearl barley.
- 6.
Return the chicken and any juices from the plate to the pan and pour in 750ml boiling water. Crumble in the stock cube and stir to combine. Bring to the boil. Pop a lid on the pan and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 35 mins.
- 7.
When the stew has simmered for 35 mins, lift out a piece of chicken and insert a skewer or knife into the thickest part of it. It’s cooked when the juices run clear. If it needs longer, return the chicken to the pan and cook for another 5 mins before checking again.
- 8.
Finely shred the parsley leaves and grate the lemon zest. Ladle the stew into deep bowls and sprinkle over the parsley and zest. Serve with a crack of black pepper and wedges of the lemon for squeezing.