Jamie Oliver's 'easy' chicken stew packs a punch with one unusual ingredient

Chicken stew is the perfect comfort food on miserable days and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has created his very own take on the traditional favourite.

Sure to warm the cockles, this 'not too tricky' recipe combines chicken thighs with root veg, bacon and thyme to create a delicious, hearty stew that can be on the table in just 90 minutes.

In the family-friendly recipe that the chef calls 'Jools' simple chicken & veg stew' a dash of Marmite is added to create a rich, savoury flavour to the broth, perfect for soaking up with fresh crusty bread.

A great way to use up any vegetables you have at home, Jamie said: "I've used celeriac and parsnips in my recipe, but you can use any root veg you've got knocking around in the bottom of the fridge - turnips, butternut squash and potato all work really well."

Packed full of goodness, Jamie's chicken stew contains 25.8 grams of protein per serving and just 420 calories. For a warming kick to soothe the soul, serve with mashed potatoes and enjoy.

Ingredients

• Two medium leeks
• Two carrots
• Two sticks of celery
• Two cloves of garlic
• Three sprigs of fresh thyme
• Three rashers of higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon
• Olive oil
• 200g celeriac
• Two parsnips
• Six new potatoes
• Eight free-range chicken thighs, skin off, bone out
• One heaped teaspoon Marmite
• 600ml organic vegetable stock

Sharing his choice of ingredients, Jamie said " I don't really like onions in my cooking, so I always leave them out of my stews - I prefer to use leeks instead. My kids also like sweetcorn in there, which I stir in from frozen just after the casserole has come out of the oven."

Method

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºC/gas 5.

Trim, wash and slice the leeks 1cm thick, scrub and cut the carrots into rough chunks and finely slice the celery. Peel and finely slice the garlic, pick the thyme leaves, discarding the stalks, and finely slice the bacon.

Heat a lug of oil in a large casserole pan on a medium heat, then add the bacon. Scatter in the thyme leaves and fry for a few minutes, or until the bacon is golden.

Next, add the leeks, carrots, celery and garlic and cook for around 10 minutes, or until the leeks start to soften, stirring regularly. Meanwhile, peel and roughly chop the celeriac and parsnips, then roughly chop the potatoes.

Add the chicken, celeriac, parsnips and potatoes to the pan. Stir in the Marmite, add a good grinding of black pepper and stir to coat.

Pour in the hot stock, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to low. Crumple up and wet a piece of greaseproof paper, then open it out and place on top of the stew. Cover with a lid and pop in the oven for 1 hour, or until the chicken is super-tender.

When the time's up, gently break the chicken up into the stew, then serve up in bowls. I like to serve this with broccoli on the side. Sometimes I top it with puff pastry or I stir it through pasta for a really tasty sauce.