herb + red wine braised chicken thighs

on his birthday, my husband requested red wine and chicken thighs... and voila! i'm pretty sure he intended to only drink the red wine, but i threw a bit in with the chicken, too.

ingredients:

  • 4 strips of bacon, sliced crosswise into ~ 1/2 in. pieces
  • 4 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on
  • 2 tsp. coarse ground sea salt and 2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
  • 2 large shallots
  • 1 clove of garlic per thigh, diced
  • 3/4 cup water
  • beech mushrooms (bunashimeji) 3.5 oz.
  • 1/2 cup diced cherry tomatoes
  • 4 sprigs thyme, whole
  • 1 sprig rosemary, leaves removed and chopped
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 1/2 cups red wine
  • 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 flat tsp. chicken BtB
  • 1 tsp. chopped parsley 

preparation

  1. pre-heat oven to 300F.
  2. cover the bottom of a dutch oven with the pieces of bacon and fry the bacon on medium heat until the bottom of the dutch oven begins to turn brown. flip the bacon and brown the other side.
  3. once bacon is cooked, remove bacon and drain on a few paper towels.  
  4. place chicken in Dutch oven. sprinkle with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper. brown on medium heat. if skins sticks to the bottom, scrape it off with a wooden spatula. brown chicken on at least two sides. if the gradoux (brown bits on the bottom) starts to burn and turn very dark brown, add a small bit of water to prevent burning and lower the fire a bit.
  5. once chicken is thoroughly browned and the bottom of the pot has a fair bit of gradoux, add shallots and garlic. once shallots are caramelized, add all remaining ingredients. bring to a boil.
  6. cover and transfer to pre-heated oven. cook chicken for about an hour or until fully cooked through.