This is a dish we prepare in autumn with chicken or pork, while the olives are still fresh and bitter. It is a recipe that my grandmother brought form Asia Minor. We cook it with fresh crushed green olives but you can substitute with regular green olives you can easily buy. We prepare our crushed olives end of October. We crush the olives with a stone and put them in a brine. Depending on your tolerance on bitterness you can have them in three to ten days. You can also put them in olive oil and store them, but we think that they loose their spark if kept more than 2-3 months.

Serves 6

• 1 whole chicken (about 2kg), cut in 8 pieces
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp dried red chilli flakes
• 500g onions, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups tomatoes, grated or pureed
• 1 tsp sugar (depending on the acidity of the tomatoes)
• 1/2 cup warm water (or more if necessary)
• 250g green olives (fresh crushed if possible…)
• 600g potatoes, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and in 1cm slices
• sea salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

chicken with crushed green olives

Heat half the quantity of the olive oil in a wide saucepan over medium-high heat. Place the chicken pieces in a single layer, sprinkle with one small pinch of salt and some ground black pepper and brown them well on all the sides. Remove the chicken pieces and put them in a bowl.

Add the rest of the olive oil in the pan, add the chilli flakes and the onion and cook for about 7 minutes until soft and translucent, stirring regularly. Stir in the garlic and the prepared chicken and cook for one more minute. Add the white wine, reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the tomatoes with the sugar.Return the chicken pieces to the saucepan, add half cup of warm water, cover and cook over  low heat, turning the chicken in the sauce a few times during cooking until the chicken is cooked through, about 50 minutes.

Remove the chicken pieces from the saucepan and put them in a bowl. Keep warm.

Add the potatoes and the olives and let simmer for about 40-45 minutes until the potatoes are cooked. Season with salt and pepper to taste, considering that the olives might be rather salty . Add the chicken pieces and cook for 10 more minutes so flavours  can blend, turning the chicken in the sauce a few times.