This is recipe 2 of our 3 meal chicken feature (first, joint your chicken...) and it's time to make use of drumsticks, wing joints and thighs in Ben's version of the French classic using a lovely drop of Sharpham Dart Valley Reserve (a fantastic Devon grown wine with some sweetness to it, if you can’t find it then an Alsatian Riesling works really well too).

Method

1 Toss bacon pieces in seasoned flour. In a large casserole, heat the butter and oil and fry the floured bacon until browned, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Now fry your onions to golden and set aside. Toss the chicken in seasoned flour also and fry off until crisp and golden, set aside also. Deglaze your pan with a splash of the white wine, allowing it to bubble and scraping up all the good bits from the bottom.

2 Add back to the casserole your cooked bacon, onions and chicken along with the remaining wine, stock and bouquet garni. Season if necessary and bring to a gentle simmer and cook on a low heat (or in a low oven) for 1 ½ hrs until the meat is beautifully tender.

3 To give extra depth, I like to take some of the cooking liquids and heat them in a separate small pan with the liver and heart. Puree this mixture and add back to your casserole dish, check seasoning and adjust if necessary.

4 Depending on how fiddly you like your cooking, at this point you could strain off your stock and then reduce it in a separate pan. Or you could pop in a little flour mixed with butter, mix it in vigorously and hope that thickens your sauce enough for your liking.

This whole dish can be made well ahead of time and simply brought to room temperature and then reheated thoroughly in the oven at 180°C for half an hour.