coq au vin

k... if this tastes half as good as it smells...

4 chicken thighs
4 chicken legs
2 bottles côtes du rhône
3 cloves garlic, smashed
6-8 sprigs fresh thyme
6 oz salt pork or pancetta, sliced into lardons
26-40 pearl onions, peeled
8 oz button mushrooms, quartered
2 c chicken stock
1 bay leaf
2-3 T tomato paste
1 medium onion, quartered
2 large carrots, quartered
2 large stalks celery, quartered
1/2 c flour
2 T water
2 T unsalted butter (if necessary)
salt and pepper

heat large, heavy bottomed saute pan (ie, NOT nonstick) over medium heat. salt and pepper chicken pieces and dredge in flour, shaking off excess. set aside. put pork lardons into saute pan with 2 T water and cover. cook about 10 mins, or until most of the water has evaporated, and remove lid. cook additional 10-12 mins to crisp lardons. remove to bowl, and add peeled pearl onions, salt and pepper, and cook 10-15 mins, or until golden brown. remove to bowl with the lardons.
brown chicken pieces in small batches, and remove to plate. add mushrooms and cook till golden brown and delicious, about 10 mins. remove mushrooms to bowl with lardons and onions, cover tightly and put in fridge.

in large dutch oven, scatter carrots, onions, celery, thyme, garlic, bay leaf and tomato paste. place browned chicken pieces on top.

deglaze the saute pan with 1/2 to 1 c of the côtes du rhône, using a wooden spoon to scrape up and incorporate any of the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. pour wine over chicken and mirepoix in dutch oven. add chicken stock and the rest of the wine, cover and place dutch oven on whatever shelf of your fridge that'll support it. leave overnight.

the next day, remove dutch oven from fridge about an hour before you want to put it in the oven, and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. place dutch oven in lower third of oven and cook 2 to 3 hrs, depending on the size of the chicken pieces.

when chicken is cooked, remove to a heatsafe dish and cover with foil and put in a 180 degree oven to keep warm. strain cooking juices thru a colander or mesh strainer to remove herbs and now cooked to death vegetables. put strained juices back in dutch oven and reduce over medium heat by 1/3, 25-45 mins. when reduced, add the lardons, pearl onions and mushrooms to the sauce.

place chicken on cooked egg noodles and spoon sauce on top.

YUM!