Once again Eddie and I wandered around in our local Williams Sonoma and came home with three different stewing sauces to try.  This one, with a lot of fennel, capers and raisins in a red sauce, was really tasty.  We paired it with a ’10 Turley Napa Valley Zinfandel – though while cooking I did have a martini.  (See my one-bottle post on that this Friday.)  My few changes are in italics below.

Abbreviated from the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen:

Ingredients:

1 chicken, about 4 lb., cut into 8 pieces (I only used about a pound of think cut breasts as I wanted enough sauce left over to cover noodles too.)

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

2 Tbs. vegetable oil

1 jar Southern Italian braising base

Directions:

Season the chicken (on both sides) with (sea) salt and (fresh cracked black) pepper.

In a pan, warm the oil. Working in batches, brown the chicken on both sides, 8 to 10 minutes per batch.

Transfer to a slow-cooker base and add the braising base.

Cover and cook on high according to the manufacturer’s instructions until the meat is fork-tender, about 2 hours.

(Or bake in the oven, 350 degrees, for one hour in a covered cast iron pot.)

Skim the fat off the sauce. Serve the chicken with the sauce.

Serves 4.  (I put the sauce and chicken over plain egg noodles.  The teenager liked it and the husband agreed that the $16.95 price tag was well worth it.)

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/southern-italian-braised-chicken.html