Almost Coq au Vin

I love Coq au Vin, but wow is it an involved dish to prepare. I stumbled upon this great recipe in Fine Cooking magazine and thought...my, this is close to my favorite French dish, with less fuss, although it requires some fuss I gave it a try. It did not disappoint! If you love Coq au Vin, you will love this dish...if you don't know what that is, you will still love this dish! The humble ingredients create a rich and aromatic meal. It is worth the time and fuss ;) great in the winter as it warms the soul. Enjoy!

Braised Chicken Legs with White Wine
Bacon, Cipolline Onions & Mushrooms
adapted from Finecooking Magazine

8 small cipolline onions or 4 large halved ( I used pearl onions this time and doubled the amount, they were great)
4 bone-in, skin-on medium chicken thighs
4 chicken drumsticks
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
8 medium cremini mushrooms (aka baby portobellos) trimmed and halved
3 oz bacon (3 strips), cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced in 1/4-inch rounds (I used two, as I like extra veggies)
1 cup dry white wine
3 large thyme springs
1 cup homemade or low-salt canned chicken broth
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

A large, straight-sided-ovenproof sauté pan with a lid is ideal for making this chicken braise.

Position  a rack in the center of your oven, set temp. to 350°

Bring a 2-quart saucepan of water to a boil. Drop in the onions and blanch them for 1 min.
Drain and shower with cold water to stop the cooking. Peel the onions, leaving enough of the root intact so that they will remain whole while cooking (I do this early in the day so I have one less step later). You can use frozen pearl onions, but I would add them just before the braising.

Season the chicken pieces generously with salt and pepper.

In a straight-sided 10-inch or 11-inch ovenproof sauté pan with a lid, heat the oil until very hot
Arrange the chicken pieces skin side down in the pan, cover with a splatter screen if you have one. Get your apron on! This can get messy.
Cook chicken until deeply browned, about 5 minutes.Turn the pieces over and cook until the other sides are deeply browned, 3 to 5 minutes more. Transfer to a plate, Pour out and discard all the fat from the pan.

Place the pan over medium heat, add the peeled onions mushrooms, bacon, and carrot to the and cook until the bacon is crisp and the vegetables are browned, 8-10 minutes.

Add the wine and thyme sprigs and bring to a boil, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Boil until the wine has reduced to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Return the chicken pieces to the pan, along with any accumulated juices, and cover. Transfer to the oven and braise until the chicken is fork-tender and the drumstick meat starts to come away from the bone, 45-50 minutes.


With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken, onions, bacon, carrots, and mushrooms to a serving dish and keep warm by covering loosely with foil. Discard the thyme sprigs. Tilt the pan and skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened, skimming off any skin that forms on top, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with pepper (the sauce should be sufficiently salted at this point) Pour the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle with the thyme leaves and serve.

Serve it up with mashed potatoes and a nice white wine (I like the Italian Pinot Grigio I used in the dish) and say "Oh la la"!