Braised Chicken Legs with White Wine, Bacon, Cipolline Onions, & Mushrooms

By á-6091

Ingredients

• 8 small cipolline onions (or 4 large, halved)
• 4 bone-in, skin-on medium chicken thighs (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 lbs)
• 4 chicken drumsticks
• Kosher slat and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 8 medium cremini mushrooms, trimmed and halved
• 3 oz bacon (3 strips), cut crosswise into 1/4 - inch strips
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced in 1/4 - inch rounds
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 large thyme sprigs
• 1 cup homemade or low-salt canned chicken broth
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Preparation

Step 1

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350.

2. Bring a 2-quart saucepan of water to a boil. Drop in the onion and blanch them for 1 min. Drain in a colander, then shower with cold water to stop the cooking. Peel the onions, leaving enough of the root end intact that they will remain whole while cooking.

3. Season the chicken pieces generously with salt & pepper. In a straight-sided 10 or 11 inch ovenproof sauté pan with a lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Arrange the chicken pieces skin side down in the pan (it’ll be crowded), cover with a splatter screen, and cook until deeply browned, about 5 minutes. Turn the pieces over and cook until the other sides are deeply browned, 3 -5 minutes more. Transfer to a plate. Pour out and discard all the fat from the pan.

4. Put the pan over medium heat. Add the peeled onions, mushrooms, bacon, and carrot to the pan and cook until the bacon is crisp and the vegetables are browned, 8 – 10 minutes. Add the wine and thyme sprigs and bring to a boil, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Boil until the wine has reduced to ½ cup, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.

5. Return the chicken pieces to the pan, along with any accumulated juices, and cover. Transfer to the oven and braise until the chicken is fork-tender and the drumstick meat starts to come away from the bone, 45 – 50 minutes.

6. With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken, onions, bacon, carrots, and mushrooms to a serving dish and keep warm by covering the dish loosely with foil. Discard the thyme sprigs. Tilt the sauté pan and skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, skimming off any skin that form on top, about 5 mins. Season to taste with pepper (the sauce should be nicely salted at this point). Pour the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle with thyme leaves, and serve.