Braised chicken with apples and cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.

2. Joint the chicken into 4 portions and roughly chop up the remaining bones. Sprinkle a little of the ground cinnamon on the portions of chicken.

3. Heat 30g of the butter in a large ovenproof pot. Add the legs first and brown thoroughly. Add the breast pieces, then the bones and finally the cinnamon stick and a ½ teaspoon of cinnamon powder.

4. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Cover the pot and transfer to the oven for 20 minutes. When cooked remove the chicken portions (breasts first, then the legs) and keep warm.

5. Put the pan on the stovetop and cook to reduce the stock by half.

6. Meanwhile, melt another 30g of butter in a pan, then peel, core and quarter the apples and fry them until browned.

7. Turn down the heat, add the shallots and sweat these with the apples. Sprinkle with ½ tsp cinnamon and the lemon juice.

8. Strain the stock over the apples, stir in the rest of the butter, sprinkle with parsley and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

9. Place the chicken portions in a serving dish, pour over the apples with the sauce and serve.