Coq au Vin

The night before serving put the pieces of chicken in a large bowl.

Add half of the carrot rounds and all of the chopped onion to the dish, along with half of the thyme sprigs, the bay leaf and the peppercorns.

Pour the wine over the chicken and cover the dish. Put in the refrigerator overnight. The next day remove the pieces of chicken and the vegetables with tongs or a slotted spoon and set the chicken and vegetables aside on 2 separate plates. Strain the marinade, discard herbs.

Heat the oil in a large cast iron Dutch oven. Brown the pieces of chicken in it in several batches until golden. Set the chicken aside as it browns on a paper towel lined tray to drain.

Add the reserved wine soaked vegetables and the crushed cloves of garlic to the dish, adding more oil as needed; brown them well. Return the chicken to the Dutch oven with the browned vegetables, along with the chicken broth, the reserved marinade and 1 tablespoon salt. Stir, bring to the boil, then cover.

Let it simmer over low heat for 1 to 2 hours.When completely cooked through turn off the heat and let the broth cool somewhat while you peel the pearl onions and cut the mushrooms in half.

Cut the bacon into 1-inch strips.

Add them to a large cast iron skillet set over medium heat. Fry the bacon strips until crisp.

Remove them to a paper towel lined plate to drain, reserving them for another use.

Add the pearl onions and the mushrooms to the bacon fat and cook until golden. Turn the heat off and set them aside.

Remove the cooled chicken pieces from the Dutch oven and set them on a plate taking care to leave the very tender pieces intact. At this point you may stick the chicken pieces under the broiler for a miniute or two if you’d like to improve their color, but this is not necessary. Strain the remaining liquid pressing down on the solids to get as much flavor out as possible. Discard the solids. Return the chicken and the strained broth to the dish.

Add the remaining thyme sprigs. Season to taste.

Add the browned pearl onion, mushrooms, celery pieces and the remaining uncooked carrots. Cook over medium heat until the carrots and celery are tender and cooked through about 20 to 30 minutes, adjust seasoning adding touch of red wine vinegar as needed.

Garnish with parsley and serve warm with crusty bread.