Rangitikei Chicken Drums Cooked in Oyster Mushroom and Tio Pepe Sherry Sauce with Smashed Herb Potatoes

Serves 4

For the chicken:
8 (750 - 800 g) Rangitikei corn-feed free range chicken drumsticks
½ cup plain flour
Murray River salt flakes
Black pepper
4 tbsp Pukara extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup chopped shallots
2 tsp finely chopped garlic
2 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
1 tbsp  butter
½ cup (120g) roughly chopped bacon
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup dry sherry
1 ½ tbsp  hot English mustard
200g oyster mushrooms

For the potatoes:
16 new potatoes
2 tbsp   olive oil
1tbsp   finely chopped thyme
1 tbsp   finely chopped marjoram
1 tbsp   finely chopped garlic
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 tbsp   Butter
1 tbsp   finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp   finely chopped chives
50 g parmesan cheese, grated
4 sprigs of parsley to garnish

Preheat Oven to 180 C
 
For the chicken:
Place the flour, salt and pepper into a plastic bag, add the chicken and toss to coat evenly. Discard left over flour.
In a saucepan sauté the drum sticks in 4 tbsp  extra virgin olive oil until they are lightly browned, remove from the saucepan and set aside.
To the saucepan add the shallots, garlic, thyme and butter then sauté over a medium heat until garlic and shallots are soft, add bacon, stock, sherry, mustard, mushrooms, season with salt and pepper bring to the boil.  Remove from heat from the heat and add the drum sticks, cover and cook in the pre heated oven for 25 - 30 minutes.

For the smashed potatoes:
Combine oil, thyme, marjoram, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl. Tip onto a baking tray and toss through potatoes to coat evenly. Cook in the oven in a single layer for 25-30 minutes until potatoes are soft in the middle. Remove from the oven and place into a pot and add the butter, parsley and chives then mash them using a potato masher;  add the parmesan and ¾ cup of the sauce the chicken has been cooked in. Reheat and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Serve together and garnish with parsley.