Serves 4 to 6
3- to 4-ounce hunk of lean bacon
2 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 to 3 pounds frying chicken, cut up
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup cognac
3 cups young, full-bodied red wine such as Burgundy, Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone, Chianti
1 to 2 cups brown chicken stock, brown stock, or canned beef bouillon
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
12 to 24 brown-braised onions
1/2 pound sauteed mushrooms
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons softened butter
Sprigs of fresh parsley
Remove rind and cut bacon into lardons (rectangles 1/4 inch across and 1 inch long). Simmer 10 minutes in 2 quarts of water. Rinse in cold water. Dry.
In heavy, 10-inch fireproof casserole or an electric skillet (260 degrees on electric skillet) saute bacon slowly in hot butter until very lightly browned. Remove to side dish.
Dry chicken thoroughly. Brown in hot fat in casserole (360 degrees for electric skillet).
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Return the bacon to the casserole with the chicken. Cook and cover slowly (300 degrees) for 10 minutes, turning the chicken once.
Uncover, and pour in the cognac. Averting your face, ignite the cognac with a lighted match. Shake the casserole back and forth for several seconds until the flames subside.
Pour the wine into the casserole. Add just enough stock or boullion to cover the chicken. Stir in the tomato paste, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to simmer. Cover and simmer 25 to 30 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and its juices run a clear yellow when the meat is pricked with a fork.
While the chicken cooks, braise onions and saute mushrooms
Remove the chicken to a side dish.
Simmer the chicken cooking liquid in the casserole for a minute or two, skimming off fat. Then raise heat and boil rapidly, reducing the liquid to about 2 1/4 cups. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat, and discard bay leaf.
Blend flour and butter until smooth. Beat the paste into the hot liquid with a wire whip. Bring to the simmer, stirring, and simmer for a minute or two. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.
Arrange the chicken in a casserole, place the mushrooms and onions around it, and baste with the sauce. If the dish is not to be served immediately, film the top of the sauce with stock or dot with small pieces of butter. Set aside uncovered.
Shortly before serving, bring to simmer, basting chicken with the sauce. Cover and simmer slowly 4 to 5 minutes, until the chicken is hot through.
Serve from casserole or arrange on a hot platter. Decorate with sprigs of parsley.
Sauteed mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, washed, well dried, left whole if small, sliced or quartered if large
Place butter and oil in hot 10-inch skillet. As soon as you see that the butter foam has begun to subside, add the mushrooms. Toss and shake the pan for 4 to 5 minutes. During their saute the mushrooms will at first absorb the fat. In 2 to 3 minutes the fat will reappear on their surface, and the mushrooms will begin to brown. As soon as they have browned lightly, remove from heat.
Brown-braised onions
18 to 14 peeled white onions (about 1 inch in diameter)
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup brown stock, canned beef bouillon, dry white wine or water
Salt and pepper to taste
Herb bouquet: 4 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf, 1/4 teaspoon thyme tied in cheesecloth.
Heat butter and oil to bubble, add onions and saute over moderate heat about 10 minutes, rolling the onions so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins.
Pour in the liquid, season to taste, and add the herb bouquet. Cover and simmer 40 to 50 minutes until onions are perfectly tender but retain their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet.
© HWS, 2004