Chicken Marengo

AI’m sure many of us have a stash of recipes we’ve put aside to make, and never made them? My pile keeps getting bigger, it’s quite silly really. This is one of those recipes. No idea where it came from, but my it was worthwhile making it as Tony said it’s his favourite of all the meals I’ve cooked him. What the! I’ve put a lot of time, attention and detail into other meals and haven’t even heard a grunt.

The story goes that this dish was Napoleon’s must-have meal when he went to battle. His cook threw it together after Napoleon defeated the Austrians in 1800 in the Italian town of Marengo. It’s said that Napoleon enjoyed it so much, he declared that the dish should be served after every battle. I’m not sure whether to leave this story in with the link to Tony. He’ll think he’s Napoleonic now.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 chicken breast, cut into chunks
flour
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
400 rams crushed tomatoes
250ml chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
2 portobello mushrooms, diced
juice of 1 lemon
extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup basil, torn

Fry the onions and garlic in vegetable oil until soft.

Coat the chicken with flour, salt and red pepper flakes. Add the pieces of chicken to the pan with the oil and fry until browned on all sides.

Add the tomatoes and chicken stock and allow to simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.

Separately, melt butter in a saucepan and fry the mushrooms until tender. Sprinkle the mushrooms with lemon juice.

Add the mushrooms and the basil to the tomato sauce and mix well.

I served this with spinach and cheese tortellini which was a great combination or you could serve with bread.

S