Chicken “Louie” in Red Wine Sauce
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Note to all: The key to this little dish is time. So if you’re in a hurry to slap something on a plate. Forget it. This is cooked on very low heat in a covered deep pan until the wine and stock and water have completely reduced to a delicious thick gravy.
Famous Secret Ingredients
4 – 6 chicken thighs with skin (my preference is for thighs)
3 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
Kosher or sea salt and cracked pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp white flour
3/4 bottle of good red wine (leaving a glass or two for you)
1 cup of chicken stock
1/2 cup of tap water
1 (full) tsp red pepper flakes
1 large half onion diced (or half cup of shallots)
4 cloves of garlic finely sliced
1/2+ cup sliced mushrooms
dozen pearl onions
Black olives are optional
Serves 2 – 3 people and 1 golden retriever
Directions
Cut off the end of your pearl onion and make an “x” with your knife. Drop them into boiling water for about 1 minute. Remove the onions, let them cool down then peel them. Why I decided on onions I don’t know other than that’s probably what I had on hand. You can just as easily buy a jar of small onions it matters not and the cooking standards board won’t be bothering you anytime soon.
Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken pieces, a few at a time, into a large plastic bag along with the flour. Double check your bad to make sure there are no pre-existing holes. It helps believe me. Shake to coat all of the pieces of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the bag to a plate.
Add your olive oil and butter to your pan then add arrange your chicken pieces in the pan and cook for a quick couple of minutes on each side just to brown then remove and place safely out of the way of any hovering canine. At this point you want to check on the integrity of the wine that will be used for cooking. Open the bottle, pour a glass and carefully test. If necessary re-test.
Add the chopped onions to the pan and work them until they are golden brown then follow with the garlic. Add the chicken stock mixing well with onions and garlic. Add the red wine and make sure the chicken, when re-introduced to the pan, is completely covered (submerged). You have the option of adding more stock, wine or water. What would you choose? Add the thyme, bay leaf, pepper flakes, mushrooms and pearl onions.
Say a prayer and cover the dish setting the heat down to 1/4 and set the timer, initially for 1 hour. This gives you a nice window to catch up on your reading, your email, test the wine; in other words you are limitless in the number of things that you can do. I mean that sincerely.
After an hour check on your Poulet Louie because you want to see how much of the wine and stock remains and most likely you will need another 20 minutes or so to get it reduced to rich dark spicy gravy. You will then have reached a blessed state of cooking Nirvana. Serve over rice, garnish with parsley and an interesting bottle of red wine, perhaps a Cotes du Rhone or a hardy Langedoc red. A good crusty baguette and a tossed salad of endives and blue cheese in vinaigrette rounds out this delicious and simple feast.
Take it from me, Louie, it’s a great meal from plate to floor!