Tipsy Chicken for an Autumn night ...

... or Coq au Vin as its known to most of the world; is one of my favourite ways to warm myself when the nights are drawing in, the winds begin to howl and you're convinced the drizzle may never leave London anytime before next June. Admittedly it requires some planning as you do have to let the chicken marinade overnight, but this week's trek home from bible study, getting home after 10 in cold, damp weather with cold, damp feet was all the motivation I needed to put some chicken legs out of the fridge and into the marinade before getting into bed and dreaming of warmer days.

The purists amoung you should feel free to cut out the potato slices from this dish entirely and substute them with the more traditional mashed potato by the side. Personally, I've never been a huge fan of mash and I do like the idea of one pot cooking - it leads to less mess and less washing up after all.

(Taken from the Leon cookbook and played with)

Serves 4
Ingrediants

4 Whole Chicken legs (Skin on)
1 Litre Red wine (if its too cheap to drink, its too cheap to cook with)
A bunch of thyme, tied with string
A sprig of rosemary
5 Bay leaves
180g streaky bacon, diced (I prefer unsmoked)
150g button mushrooms (or normal mushrooms, quartered)
2 Carrots, cut into 1cm dice
2 1/2tbsp Olive oil
8 very small Red Onions (think shallot size), peeled and quartered
500ml Chicken stock
400g Savoy Cabbage
4 cloves garlic
200g Potatoes, small and waxy, thinly sliced
2tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Marinade the chicken with the red wine, bay leaves, thyme and rosemary for around 24 hours.

Next day, take the chicken out of the marinade and drain it but remember to keep the wine as well as the herbs.

Heat the oil in a deep pan until it is hot but not smoking. Fry off the bacon until it begins to brown, then add the mushrooms, garlic, carrots and onions. Keep frying until the mushrooms have started to brown and then use a slotted spoon to left everything out of the pan, leaving the oil on the heat.

Season the chicken well then lay them down in the pan, skin side down. When one side is browned, turn and continue cooking until both sides are nicely coloured. Pour in the marinade that you saved earlier one and simmer until reduced by half. Now add the chicken stock, bring up to a simmer again (skim here if needed) then stir in the mushrooms, onions, carrots, garlic, cabbage and potato slices.

Simmer gently until the meat start to fall away from the bones and the potatoes are cooked but not falling apart , normally 30 - 45mins. Then take off the heat and let rest with the lid on for 10 mins and finish with the chopped parsley.

i found it stores well both in the fridge and freezer, and the flavours seem to develop to be even better after getting time to sit.