Slow Cooker Coq au Vin

Line a baking sheet with foil and top the baking sheet with a cooling rack, set aside.

In a large Ziploc bag combine the ½ cup flour, onion powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. Shake to combine. Coat each piece of chicken by putting it in the bag with the flour mixture, shaking to coat it and then removing it from the bag and tapping off any excess. Allow the dredged chicken to rest on the cooling rack until the flour has set, about 10 minutes.

Cook the bacon in a large sauté pan over medium heat until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel lined plate. After removing the bacon from the pan, add the pearl onions and cook them in the remaining bacon grease until soft and caramelized. Remove the onions from the pan and transfer to a bowl. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until softened and they have released most of their moisture. Add the mushrooms to the pearl onions along with the bacon and refrigerate until ready to make the sauce.

In the same pan, cook the chicken until nice and brown on both sides. Do this in batches to not crowd the pan. The chicken doesn’t have to be cooked all the way through at this point; it just needs to be browned on both sides.

While browning the chicken add the carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf, thyme, and garlic to a large slow cooker. Once the chicken is done, add it to the slow cooker. Do not add the pearl onions, mushrooms, and bacon at this time.

When all of the chicken has been cooked and removed from the pan, deglaze the sauté pan with about 1 cup of red wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove any brown bits. Stir in the tomato paste and cook until the tomato paste has melted into the wine. Pour the tomato and wine mixture over the chicken. Pour the rest of the wine (both bottles) and the chicken broth into the slow cooker. Put the lid on and cook on high for four hours or on low for six to eight hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and tender.

Then transfer the chicken to a baking pan, cover with foil, and keep warm in a 200 F oven.

Pour the remaining ingredients in the slow cooker through a colander into a large saucepan straining out all of the vegetables and herbs. You can dispose of these. Bring the wine sauce to a boil over medium heat and reduce heat to a simmer and allow the sauce to reduce by about one half. If the sauce does not seem to be thickening you can thicken it with a flour mixture. For the flour mixture mix ¼ cup flour in ½ cup hot water until combined. Then whisk this into the wine sauce. Allow to simmer until it thickens and reaches the consistency of thin gravy.

Stir in the pearl onions, mushrooms, and bacon until they are warmed through. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Add in the chicken and stir gently to coat with the sauce. Serve with mashed potatoes.