What she’d tell you
A whole bottle of wine goes in, so use one you would drink: not because it is grand, but because a bad wine reduces down into a worse one and there is nowhere for it to hide.
What you need
Written for 6. Change that in the app and the amounts follow.
Tick things off as you get them ready.
Continue to the method ↓
How it goes
Fry the diced bacon in a heavy casserole until crisp, then lift it out.
Season the chicken and brown it hard in the bacon fat, skin-side first, in two batches. Set aside.
Brown the shallots and the thickly cut carrots for 6 minutes, then add the garlic and tomato paste for 2 minutes.
Stir in the flour, then pour in the wine and let it bubble hard for 5 minutes, scraping everything off the bottom.
Return the chicken and bacon, add the broth, thyme and bay, and simmer with the lid ajar for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Meanwhile fry the mushrooms in the butter over high heat until browned, and stir them in for the last 10 minutes.
Fish out the thyme stalks and bay, taste for salt, and serve with bread or mash.
If you haven’t got it
Red Wine
white wine, and then it is coq au vin blanc, which is just as old
Shallot
small onions, quartered
Keeping it
Four days in the fridge and it improves markedly overnight.
Low heat on the hob until barely bubbling. Freezes for three months.
