Don’t Whine, Cook Chicken With Wine

After hearing about a certain French restaurant from a cousin, I suddenly developed a craving for French food. Briefly lamenting that I couldn’t get up to Napa to sample its cuisine, I decided to make my own French dinner. I didn’t have the ingredients for his favorite dish, but I had a chicken and some wine, so I decided to whip up one of my favorite simple meals, a comforting chicken stew with wine and mushrooms.

If you bought chicken pieces of any kind, that works great. Thighs on the bone are my favorite. As usual, I had a whole chicken and I happened to be in the mood for hacking something up. So this was my opportunity for some therapy. Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it! Have some fun cooking simple meals without a recipe.

Steps

First, I chopped up an onion because I would need that immediately after browning the chicken to help me scrape up any browned bits. Mushrooms are very important to this dish, so I washed and sliced those next. I had some crimini and shitake to use. Then I opened a bottle of red wine. Nothing expensive. Any decent dry red will do.

After skinning and cutting my chicken into pieces at the joints, I salted them and dredged in some flour. Then I heated up my chef’s pot with rounded sides because it’s my favorite and most versatile for using on the stove top, which is what I had decided to do with this stew.

If I was cooking a bigger batch, I would have heated my big roasting pan instead. Start browning the chicken pieces on the stove top and then transfer to the oven once all the ingredients have been added.

Cooking

I browned the chicken pieces in a combination of butter and olive oil, a few pieces at a time so as not to overcrowd the pan. (I usually start with bacon instead. That is more traditional, but I didn’t feel like chopping and browning bacon first…) Removed browned chicken pieces to a plate and then added my chopped onion to help me scrape up any browned bits. Wine was at the ready in case I needed a little more help in deglazing the pot.

After cooking the onions for a few minutes, I added more oil and the mushrooms. Let those cook a few minutes, seasoned with salt and then poured in about half a bottle of wine and roughly 2/3 that amount of chicken broth. I sprinkled in some Herbs de Provence and snuggled the chicken pieces into the pot while the stew came to a boil. Then reduced to simmer and cooked for about an hour. Just look at it and poke the chicken to see when it’s done and the stew has thickened up a bit. That’s the key to developing your intuition in the kitchen and cooking without a recipe.

Finished With Carrots

I don’t usually take pictures while I’m cooking, but these carrots reminded me of legs and made me laugh, so I thought maybe you would find them amusing too.

I wanted to put my carrots in about 20 minutes before the stew was finished. Usually I cut them into 1 inch pieces, but these carrots were so skinny that I decided to leave them whole and just let them cook right on top of the stew.

I served this the first night with mashed potatoes, but it would be great with polenta or pasta. Reinvent leftovers by adding red bell pepper or spinach for a variety of different meals.

Basic Ingredients

• chicken cut into pieces
• flour
• dry red wine
• chicken broth
• onion
• mushrooms (I used shitake and crimini)
• carrots
• Herbs De Provence or other dried herbs
• butter/oil (and/or bacon)

Do you like putting everything in one pot as much as I do? Read Gumbo Ya Ya for another simple meal that will transport your taste buds.