Chicken, Asparagus and Lemon Cassoulet - Leon

This was a recipe that was originally developed for Fairtrade Fortnight by Leon but I couldn't get Fairtrade lemons just normal lemons from ASDA. They say use chicken supremes but they don't do these here either but I must say we all love thighs and legs over breast anyway so it's a much better version.

Anyway the original version appeared in Leon Ingredients & Recipes but
here is my version (which is slightly altered) fresh out of the oven. It went down an absolute treat and will go onto my list of things to do for the family that they will actually eat.



Here is my version which serves 4 - it looks a bit of a mess but is quite delicious...

1 lemon, zested and juiced
4 cloves of garlic
olive oil
2 heaped teaspoons of mixed herbs
4 chicken quarters (thighs and legs)
2 bunches of English asparagus
1 large onion, cut into cubes
2 x 400g tin of haricot beans
2 bay leaves
1/2 glass of white wine
200-300ml hot chicken stock (I use the fairly new chicken stock capsules which are lovely and rich)
1 glass white wine
8 tablespoons breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
carrots - small ones sliced

Put the lemon zest, juice garlic, mixed herbs, olive oil and garlic into a dish and coat the chicken in it. Marinade overnight.

Chop off woody ends of asparagus then cut into pieces about 4cm long. Put oil into a large frying pan, season chicken and when oil is hot, fry it skin side down until golden (a couple of minutes). Remove then fry onions then add the left-over marinade and fry up. Stir in beans and bay leaves and pour in wine.

Add asparagus then transfer into a large baking tray. Put chicken on top and stir in carrots. Add stock. Cover the bean mixture (but not the chicken) with breadcrumbs. Roast for around 30 mins in the oven until crispy and golden. Simply gorgeous....