Home >Recipes >Long-Cooked Hen in Tomato Sauce

Serves: 4

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 bay leaves
sea salt, preferably gray salt
2 cups red wine
6 cans (28 ozs each) whole tomatoes, partially pureed through a meat grinder or food mill or pulsed in a blender
freshly ground black pepper
1 chicken, about 4 lbs
1/2 cup minced fresh basil
1/4 cup minced fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley

Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over high heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bay leaves, and 1 tsp salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes, then reduce the heat to moderate and cook until the vegetables are lightly browned, about 20 minutes more.
Add the wine and scrape the pan bottom with a wooden spoon to loosen any flavorful stuck-on bits. Add the tomatoes, 1 tbsp salt, and pepper to taste. Taste and add more salt if needed. It is important to add enough salt, so that the chicken seasons as it cooks.
Place the chicken, breast side down, in the sauce, and bring the sauce to a simmer. Transfer the pot to the oven. Cook, uncovered, until the chicken is very tender, about 2 hours, spooning the sauce over the chicken from time to time. Stir in the basil and parsley and cook for 15 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and let the chicken cool in the sauce.
Serve the chicken warm with a little sauce spooned over it, or reheat the sauce separately and serve it over pasta as a first course with the chicken as a main course. Any remaining sauce can be frozen.