Sorry I haven’t posted for a while I have had a yucky bug :(. Sometimes you do just fancy a classic dinner and they are really comforting. Even though this is simple it has a real depth of flavour. I used Paul’s homemade wine for this dish and it worked a treat. He had a batch he wasn’t keen on so I have been using them in cooking and they add a really fruity flavour. The other thing’s I love about this recipe is the wine dyes the chicken red which for some reason always makes me smile. The others are it is easy to make, a one pot and can be prepared in advance if you have friends or family coming over.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 4 chicken thighs (I like skinless but I don’t think the French would agree)
• 75g box of smoked pancetta lardons
• 1 large onion, peeled and sliced
• 2 carrots, scrubbed and sliced diagonally
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 bottle of red wine
• 400ml of chicken stock
• small bunch of thyme leaves
• 250g punnet of chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tsp corn flour mixed with a splash of water (thickener)
• seasoning to taste
• oil for frying

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 140 degrees fan
2. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large Dutch oven. (If you have a cast iron pot it’s perfect for it.) Fry your bacon or pancetta lardons for 5-6 minutes until browned and remove them to a plate lined with paper towel.
3. Season your chicken pieces with salt and pepper and brown them in the same pot in batches to avoid overcrowding. Remove to the same plate as bacon. You are not cooking your chicken all the way through, just browning on both sides.
4. Add the sliced onions and carrots, cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer stirring the whole time until it is fragrant and doesn’t burn Add a splash of stock and scrape all the burned bits to incorporate them into your sauce, now add bacon and chicken with all the juices they collected, pour in your wine, chicken stock and thyme sprigs and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover with a lid and put it in the oven for an hour.
5. When chicken is cooked with clear juices add in the corn flour, taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Slice mushrooms thickly and add to the pot, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Put back in the oven with the lid off for 10-15 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken and the mushrooms to cook. serve with crusty bread or couscous. Enjoy.