New Years Chicken
(Chicken Braised in Champagne)
I don’t know about you, but I like to ring in the new year with a hearty dish that will soak up all that champagne I was celebrating with the night before. But what makes this dish spectacular for New Years day (or any holiday or cold evening, really), is that you can completely make it ahead of time and just reheat when you’re ready to eat. This is a dish that actually gets better if left to sit in its sauce, so I very much recommend making it a day or two ahead. That way, if you’ve have a little new years hangover you don’t have to worry about cooking all day!
This is a riff of one of my favorite French dishes, Coq au Vin…only instead of marinating the chicken in red wine, we use sparkling wine! This is a great alternative because all sparkling wines have high acidity which will add structure to the sauce.
Chicken Braised in Champagne
Begin making this dish 1-2 days before dinnertime.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 garlic clove
1 tsp peppercorns
1 bottle sparkling wine (chilled, so its easier to open)
8 small or 4 large chicken thighs (enough for 1-2 pieces per person eating)
3 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil, divided
salt and pepper
3 Tbsp flour
2 Cups chicken broth
3/4 Cup onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 Tbsp butter
8 oz mushrooms, roughly chopped
Directions
1 Day Ahead of Cooking
In a large saucepan over high heat, combine the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, peppercorns, and wine. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
Place chicken legs into a large, nonmetallic bowl and pour the cooled marinade over them. Spoon some oil on top over any chicken pieces that are above the marinade, to keep them moist. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator, letting the chicken marinate for 12-24 hours. Turn them in the bowl from time to time so they get nicely flavored from the marinade
Day of Cooking
Heat the oven to 325 F. Remove the chicken legs from the marinade and pat them dry with paper towels. Strain the marinade into a separate bowl, saving the liquid and leftover vegetables separately.
Heat a flame-proof dutch oven or large oven-safe saute pan over medium-high heat on the stove, and add 2 Tbsp butter. Once the butter has completely melted and pan is hot, add the chicken pieces, skin side down and brown thoroughly, about 8-10 minutes. Turn and brown the other side a few more minutes. Remove chicken from the pan and set aside on a plate.
Add the reserved marinade vegetables to the hot pan and saute until they are soft and starting to brown. Stir in 3 Tbsp flour until the vegetables are thoroughly coated, about 2-3 minutes.
Pour in the marinade liquid to the pan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce to a simmer and keep stirring until the marinade begins to thicken. Add the broth, onion and garlic. Then add back in the chicken legs.
Push the bay leaf, parsley and thyme stems in between the chicken pieces until submerged. Cover the pan with lid and place it in the oven for about 1 hour (up to an hour and a half), until the pieces are tender and fall easily when poked with a fork.
Make Ahead: Once finished cooking, let this come to room temperature then store in the fridge for 1-2 days until ready to eat
Day of the Meal:
Remove chicken pieces from the sauce, then strain the sauce into a separate bowl, discarding the vegetables and seasonings. Wipe the dutch oven/.cooking pan clean and place on the stove over medium heat.
Add the butter to the pan and heat until melted, then add the mushrooms, stirring frequently until soft and juices released (about 3-5 minutes).
Once the mushrooms are cooked, add the sauce along with 1/2 Cup heavy cream. Bring it back to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the chicken thighs. Cook until heated through.
Serve the chicken thighs over mashed potatoes with sauce drizzled over the top. Add the remaining sauce to a gravy dish so diners can add more sauce if they wish.
How to Pair Wine with New Years Chicken
Guess which wine I’m going to suggest pairing with New Years Chicken…Champagne! Or any sparkling wine, really. Sparkling wine helps give a celebratory note to this dish and the bubbles and acidity provide a beautiful contrast to the hearty, creamy consistency of the sauce. We also served a Chardonnay from Burgundy with our New Years Chicken, and although it was a fine pairing, the family all agreed that the Champagne was the better match. If you do choose to pair Chardonnay with this dish, be sure to select one from a cool-climate region so it has the acidity to cut through the creaminess of the sauce. My favorites are Chardonnays from Russian River Valley, Willamette Valley, or Burgundy. Finally, if you want to pair a dry Riesling with this dish, I think that would be a suitable match as well.
How to Choose a Wine for the Marinade
Don’t open your finest Champagne for the marinade, please—the whole point of having sparkling wine as the marinade is so that the acidity gives a nice zing to the sauce while also tenderizing the chicken. I would choose a budget bubbly for this, like Cava or a French Cremant made outside of the Champagne region (the one I used was just $10 at Costco). You could easily use an affordable domestic sparkling too that you find at the grocery store, my only request is that you pay at least $7 for the bottle—anything under that will most likely be loaded with sugar and not made well.
Last note—make sure you chill the sparkling wine you use for the marinade for at least a few hours before opening—otherwise when you open it, you’ll have wine all over the floor rather than in the marinade bowl (warm temperatures make sparkling wine “explode” more).
