I had this meal in the pot in 5 minutes, which left me with plenty of time to go out to the verandah and sit back in my old rocking chair, smoke my corncob pipe and pay some more attention to my collection of dirty magazines from the early eighties.

This is a great recipe for lazy-assed, single man, Jamie’s fifteen minute meals type cooking. Or in my world it’s damn tasty and super easy which leaves me with plenty more time to beat my screaming children… errr, spend some quality time with my kids.

J (this is what wordpress does to a smily face)

 

 

Eat it with a spoon if that’s how you roll…

Smoked chicken, fennel and potato stew type thing

Any leftover chicken from the one you smoked last night, frame included
A bit of smoked pork if you have some on the fridge (I like to keep some in there at all times. It can save your bacon (pun intended) in times of need. It’s kind of like keeping band aids and tampons in your first aid cabinet… No point in having one if it doesn’t complete it primary purpose)
1-2 brown onions, sliced
1 large bulb fennel, sliced
1 stick celery, sliced
Some chard from the garden?
3-4 cloves garlic if you have them, sliced
1 tablespoon ground coriander seed
1 tin of French (du puy) lentils
4-5 smallish potatoes, or their larger counterpart equivalent, chopped into 4-5 pieces

Don’t forget the seasoning

• Put everything except the lentils, potatoes and chard into a pot and sauté with a good hit of olive oil
• Once things are starting to smell a bit sexy, and starting to colour up just a touch, add the potatoes and a litre of chicken stock (or tap stock if you don’t have any chicken stock… which I didn’t… so water it is then!)
• Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are just about cooked
• Add lentils and chard and simmer for another 5 minutes
• Check seasoning
• Serve with big lumps of fresh bread, olive oil and herbs of your choice