Pot roast chicken with Pearl Barley

I haven’t worried too much about quantities for this recipe as to be honest they are adjustable. This will feed about 6 people, but feel free to up the quantity of sausages and veg to make it go further. You could, alternatively, leave out the bangers if you were only feeding a few, or add other vegetables such as parsnips, swedes, celeriac.

In a large casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid brown your sausages all over. You can do this quite quickly as they will cook in the oven. Dice the celery, onion, potatoes and carrots. Brown them off for a few minutes in the dish. While this is happening, preheat your oven to 180. Take everything out of the casserole, set aside and put your chicken in. Return the other ingredients, add the wine, stock and pearl barley, season, put the lid on and place the whole thing in the oven. Come back an hour and half later, test the chicken – if it needs longer, pop it back in for fifteen minutes and check again. It’s dead simple, and the joy of pot-roasting is ending up with a delicious, moist chicken and no faffing. It’s only a quarter past nine and I’m already starving! Don’t forget to buy organic or free-range sausages too. Don’t get me started on pigs…

© William Leigh