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Coq au vin is a traditional French dish, with a sumptuous red wine sauce and delicious lardons or pieces of pancetta and baby onions or shallots. A dish usually served for a family gathering in France.

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: Up to 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 whole chicken, jointed into 8 pieces, or 4 thighs and 4 legs bought separately
4 oz pancetta, cubed or bacon lardons
8 oz button mushrooms
16 shallots or baby onions, peeled
8 fl oz hearty red wine
8 fl oz good quality chicken stock
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Handful parsley, chopped
1 tbsp dried Herbes de Provence

METHOD:

Heat olive oil in a large pan/casserole dish and sauté the chicken on both sides until golden. Move the chicken around the pan and add the lardons or pancetta. Continue to cook for a few minutes.

Add the mushrooms, shallots, garlic, Provence herbs, stock and wine and bring to the boil.

Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

Remove chicken and vegetables and keep warm. Bring the sauce back up to the boil and then leave to simmer on a gentle boil for a further 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened and reduced. If needs be, you can add a tablespoon of flour and stir in rigorously to thicken – but you should not need to.

Season the sauce and pour over the chicken. Serve with creamed potato, small boiled potatoes or Dauphinoise potatoes, and perhaps some green beans.