Coq au vin

 Today felt like the first real autumn day in London with grey skies and a cold drizzle. I had a bit of an appetite after a solid 75 min yoga workout at my favourite yoga place http://www.thepoweryogaco.com/ this morning. Good weather for the first casserole of the season; a Coq au vin. I use chicken thigh fillets, fresh lemon thyme and add some soya beans for the colour of the dish and to get extra vegetables in there. My 16-month old ate like she had never seen food before. Unfortunately no photo as the kitchen was too dark once I had finished. Can easily be prepared and cooked in advance and then just reheated before serving. Here is the recipe for a family of four (with two small children so add extra if you have bigger or hungrier kids):

Ingredients
4 chicken thigh fillets
100 g cubed pancetta
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 portabella mushrooms
6-8 small brown or red onions
2 handfuls of babyplum or cherry tomatoes
1 dl red wine
3 tbsp stock (I use bong's liquid chicken stock)
2 bay leafs
2 cloves of garlic
a couple of sprigs of lemon thyme
1 dl frozen soya beans
3 dl water (or as much as it takes to cover all the ingredients)
2 tbsp corn flower (and some water to mix to a roux)
salt and pepper
some pomegranate seeds to finish off

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 200 º C. 

Chop the mushrooms into size of 1 cm cubes. Peel the onions and garlic cloves. Heat half the butter and olive oil in a casserole and brown the mushrooms, onions and garlic. Remove from the casserole.

Cut the chicken thighs into 2 cm pieces. Heat the remaining butter and olive in the casserole and cook the chicken, then add back the mushrooms, onions and garlic.

Add wine, stock, tomatoes, bay leafs, lemon thyme and water to cover. Leave to simmer for 30 mins.

Put the pancetta in an oven proof dish and leave in the oven until cooked.

When the casserole is almost finished add the frozen soya beans and the roux, stir and leave to thicken for a few minutes. Top with the pancetta and serve with a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds and rice, barley or regular couscous. Enjoy!