Robust Winter Chicken Dish

Submitted by Zurie

"This leans towards Coq au Vin, but isn't. It's my effort at a chicken with a robust sauce, and it was delicious. Serve with rice or cous-cous, a green vegetable and a salad."

 

• Ready In: 45mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 lbs chicken pieces
• 6 -10 small onions
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 lemon, sliced thinly, with rind
• oil (for frying)

• Sauce

• 1 cup red wine
• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar
• 1⁄4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

directions

1. I used 4 large whole legs of chicken for this. If using very small pickling onions, use the larger amount. Mine was bigger, and I used about 5 onions.
2. Heat the oil and when hot, add the chicken and brown on all sides.
3. Then add the peeled onions, the sliced lemon, and the 4 teaspoons soy sauce. Turn heat quite low, put lid on, and fry slowly and gently until chicken is cooked through and onions are soft. You'll need to turn chicken a few times. If there's any chance of burning, add a tiny bit of water.
4. (You can do this in the oven as well).
5. In the meantime, mix the wine (use a good cabernet, merlot, or good everyday drinking wine), sugar, water and 3 tablespoons soy sauce in a small pot.
6. Bring to the boil, and keep at a rolling boil until the liquid has reduced by a half or less. It will thicken slightly. (Be careful not to burn yourself!).
7. As soon as the sauce has reduced and thickened, add the rosemary, garlic and ginger.
8. Transfer the chicken to an oven dish, then ladle over the sauce. Cover lightly and keep in a warming oven if necessary -- standing improves the flavour.

Reviews

[Mia in Germany]

Way better than coq au vin!! The sauce was so good, we could have eaten it even without the chicken. I prepared everything for the sauce before starting with the chicken pieces and started to boil it right after I put the lid on. The fried lemon slices are incredible! I did have to add two tablespoons water to the chicken, though, because it started to burn. Maybe the tamari which I used in place of regular soy sauce burns more quickly.<br/>Thanks so much for posting, I'll make this definitely again quite often!<br/>Made for the Cook-A-Thon in memory of Gideon.

 

[KateL]

This dish was delicious, but I felt the recipe should have had some estimated times based on your recommended chicken pieces. In our case, we should have started the wine sauce the minute I arrived to cook, as I wanted a good reduction to a thick syrup. We used boneless skinless chicken thighs, which fit our 12" enameled cast iron braiser perfectly. I used pearl onions. I used a food processor to mix the rosemary, garlic and ginger. My step-daughter made sure I left the recipe print-out with her. By the way, the 19-mo.-old devoured her chicken! In a family that celebrates sauces, this recipe was pure delight! If only my cell phone took better photos! Made for the Cookathon for Zurie for the loss of her beloved husband, Gideon.

 

[NorthwestGal]

This was delicious, Zurie! The ginger really made the sauce super scrumptious, and the rosemary topped it off nicely. I served the delicious chicken with steamed corn and warm dinner rolls, and we used the rolls to get every last bit of the sauce. I didn't have any little pearl onions, so I used a regular onion and sliced it thinly. Everyone loved the cooked onion slices on the side. Made for your cook-a-thon to honor the memory of your dear husband.