My Favourite Chicken Recipes
I love cooking with wine, especially red wine. Wine contains sugars, acids, tannins, alcohol and subtle food-like flavours like, cherries, currants, chocolate, and coffee, in the case of red wines and apple, pineapple, lemon and caramel, in the case of white wines. The subtle flavours normally disappear during cooking, but the sugars, acids and tannins linger in your food, depending on the amount added and the type of wine used. If you have been avoiding using wine because of alcohol content, you need to stop worrying because the alcohol evaporates during cooking, and the content reduces significantly. The more you simmer the food, the less the alcohol content at the end of cooking, that’s why wine is usually added at the start of cooking. Avoid adding wine at the end of cooking, as this will result in an unpleasant taste.
Red wine is great for braising or stewing. It’s also wonderful for deglazing pans or making sauces. You can also use red wine for flavoring desserts. For this recipe I used a medium bodied red wine with ripe berry flavours and soft tannins. I hope you’ll love this chicken recipe the way we did.
Chicken in Red Wine
Original recipe from: Family Circle Chicken Recipes
Preparation time: 20 minutes; Cooking time: 70 minutes; Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 125g (6 slices) streaky bacon, chopped
- 8 pieces chicken (thighs, drumsticks)
- All purpose flour, to dust the chickens
- 3 tablespoons olive oil (you can reduce amount if you wish)
- 16 pearl onions
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- ½ cup diced carrots
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 2 cups good quality dry red wine
- ½ cup crushed tomatoes or tomato puree or passata
- ¼ cup brandy or cognac (optional) I can’t remember the last time I saw brandy or cognac, so I omitted it…LOL
- 250g whole button mushrooms
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wipe and pat dry the chicken pieces with paper towel and toss lightly in flour. (shake off excess). (You can use a zip lock bag if you wish)
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large heavy based non-stick pan or pot. Cook bacon until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan add the chicken pieces and brown on each side. Set aside (you can drain the bacon fat if you want and add the rest of the olive oil)
- Add onions, garlic, carrots, bay leaves and thyme and sauté gently till veggies begin to wilt. Add the wine, pureed tomato, brandy, chicken, bacon and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the mushrooms and continue to cook for 30 minutes more or until chicken is tender. Remove lid in the last 15 minutes of cooking to thicken the sauce. Season to taste and serve.
myfavouritepastime.com
Step By Step Photos
Please always remember to assemble all ingredients before you start. Wipe and pat dry the chicken pieces with paper towel and toss lightly in flour. (shake off excess). (You can use a zip lock bag if you wish)
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large heavy based non-stick pan or pot. Cook bacon until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
In the same pan add the chicken pieces and brown on each side. Set aside (you can drain the bacon fat if you want and add the rest of the olive oil)
Add onions, garlic, carrots, bay leaves and thyme and sauté gently till veggies begin to wilt.
Add the wine, pureed tomato, brandy, chicken, bacon and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the mushrooms and continue to cook for 30 minutes more or until chicken is tender.
Remove lid in the last 15 minutes of cooking to thicken the sauce. Season to taste.
Serve with your favourite side dish. I served mine with some white rice because this sauce is very rich.
The chicken tasted very special.
myfavouritepastime.com
My Favourite Pastime 
Yummy – talk about ‘stick to the ribs’!!
Thanks!
Liz
I should try to cook this…. ❤
Please try and don’t forget to give me a feedback.
Liz
This looks fun, to make it lower fat I would go with chicken breasts, and to make it lower salt, I’d leave out the added salt.
Oh yes chicken breast would do as well. I used boneless, skinless thighs. Thanks and nice weekend!
Liz
Sounds very filling! 🙂
filling, in deed!
Liz
I’m salivating! And it’s way past dinner time….actually I’m even thinking about bed! LOL. I suspect that the red wine delivers a much more invigorating flavour than if I used white – which I usually do. Perhaps whatever triggers red wine headaches would be cooked out in this recipe? May I borrow this recipe and try it out? Looks so delicious with those little button mushrooms in them. I recently had to buy a new camera. My Nikon died – and I’d bought it in January in Kona. Returned it to Costco, no problem, they refunded my money so I bought a better one, a Canon. I took a shot of the super moon the other night – all I can say is Wow! So, I’m a happy camper. Maybe I could even take some food pictures. I chuckled to myself one day a couple weeks ago. I was out for dinner and across from us a young couple were busy texting on cell phones. When their food came they started taking pictures of it and appeared to be emailing or sending it to some social media sites. It was quite funny to watch. Have yourself a great Friday and coming weekend Liz. We are starting to cool down out this way – it’s been a heat wave so the cooler weather will be welcomed for sure. I’m sure all the forestry folks will be pleased. Not good situation in some areas. Take care.
Dear Sandy,
It’s okay to salivate. It means the food looks delicious. You must go to bed real early, I never sleep before midnight LOL. Surprisingly, I get headache from white wine and in general if I drink more than two glasses of red or white too. The alcohol in the wine evaporates so if the headache was alcohol induced then it should not be a problem. But wine in food is so little, I doubt you should get a headache from eating food with a dash of red wine. Those Nikon Cameras look very flashy but I’ve always been a Canon fan and I die with my old habits, so I just stick to Canon. Why go to dinner just to text other people? and send pictures across the world. People don’t have sensible conversations anymore. I cannot stand having dinner with someone who is texting other people. I’d just walk out in protest. LOL. Hey Sandy I gotta cook dinner with some red wine…LOL I just love it. Have a great week ahead!
Liz
nice. i guess this is what the French call, “coq au vin”
Mm you’ve hit the nail in the head. I love wine IN FOOD!
LIZ
looks delicious!
thanks,, Liz
This sounds great! I love braised chicken thighs!
Me too. Thighs are the best…
Liz
oooh yum!!!
Looks lovely.
Thank you!
Liz
This looks great! I love cooking with wine as well.
Thanks. Enjoy the rest of the week. Our summer is so mild, sometimes I even feel chilled. I’ve just seen a lovely salad…
Liz
That looks delicious!
Thank you!
Liz
I also love cooking with wine! I usually use white wines, so this gives me a great reason to break out the reds!!
Hi Debbie,
I love cooking with wine too and my favourite is reds, occasionally I use white too, when cooking white rice and such. Best wishes!
Liz