Riesling Braised Chicken with Tarragon & Roasted Potatoes
- 8 chicken thighs with skin and bone
- 4 russet potatoes
- 4 slices thick cut applewood smoked bacon - cut into 1/4 inch lardons
- 8 ozs wild mushrooms - sliced into 1/4 inch slices
- 2 medium leeks - sliced in 1/4 inch slices
- 2 medium carrots - cut into 1/4 inch dice
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 cups Brys Estate Riesling (or other sweeter style Riesling)
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1/4 cup Cognac
- 2 tbsps butter
- 1 tbsp flour
- fresh tarragon, diced
- olive oil
- salt
- fresh ground pepper
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Slice unpeeled russet potatoes into 1/2 inch slices and then cut each slice into 4 quarters. Place potatoes on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper and toss. Set aside.
2) In a 12 in oven-proof skillet, add 1 tbs olive oil and the bacon. Place on a burner over medium heat. Cook until lightly browned about 6-8 minutes. Once browned, transfer bacon to a plate with a slotted spoon. Remove pan from heat reserving the fat in the pan.
3) Pat dry and salt and pepper chicken on both sides. Return the pan back to the burner over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot and reserved bacon fat is about to smoke, add chicken skin side down and brown without moving for about 5 minutes. Flip and brown bottom side for 5 minutes. Remove chicken and place it skin side up on the plate with the bacon.
4) Turn down the heat to medium. Dump off the fat in the pan into a bowl then add 1/4 cup of the fat back into the pan. Add the carrots, leeks, mushrooms, garlic slices, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper and saute stirring occasionally for 8 minutes. Once the vegetables have begun to soften and the mushrooms have cooked down, deglaze the pan by adding the Riesling, Cognac and chicken broth scraping up any brown bits at the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Bring the liquid back up to a gentle simmer.
5) Return the chicken to the pan skin side up with the bacon and any juices that have collected on the plate. The meat should be mostly submerged but the skin should not be submerged. Put pan with the chicken in the middle rack of the oven. Place the sheet pan of potatoes in the oven on the top rack.
6) Bake the chicken for for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. When the chicken is done, remove skillet from the oven and transfer chicken to a serving platter and tent with foil. Leave the potatoes in the oven and turn the oven temperature up to 425 degrees. In a small bowl mix 2 tbs melted butter and 1 tbs flour. Return the skillet to the stove top over medium high heat and bring to a simmer. Stir the butter and flour mixture into the sauce. Continue to simmer until the sauce thickens and becomes rich - about 6 minutes. Taste for salt and add up to an additional 1/2 tsp to taste. When the sauce is done, remove potatoes from the oven.
Serve sauce over chicken sprinkled with fresh tarragon. Serve with roasted potatoes.
