You Will Need

* 4 chicken quarters, each cut into 2 pieces
* 1 75ml bottle of red wine
* 2 bay leaves
* 2 leeks, each cut in half
* 4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, crushed
* 6 sprigs of thyme
* 20 black peppercorns
* 2 fl oz cognac or brandy
* 3 ½ oz bacon
* 5 1⁄3 oz button mushrooms
* 16 pearl onions, peeled
* 4 Tbsp plain flour
* 1 ¾ oz butter
* 4 Tbsp olive oil
* 6 ¾ fl oz chicken stock
* Salt and pepper
* 1 bowl
* some cling film
* 1 sieve
* 1 saucepan
* some kitchen paper
* 1 plate
* 1 frying pan
* 1 casserole dish
* 1 slotted spoon

Step 1:
Marinate the chicken
Take a bowl and put in the wine, bay leaves, leeks, carrots, garlic, thyme, peppercorns and the chicken.
Step 2:
Cover and refrigerate
Cover the bowl with cling film and put it in the fridge either overnight, or if you are planning to cook the same day then just for a few hours.
Step 3:
Preheat the oven
Next, before removing the chicken from the marinade, set the temperature of the oven at 150ºC. That’s 300ºF or gas mark 2.
Step 4:
Take the chicken out of the frigde and strain the marinade
First, remove the chicken quarters from the bowl and place them to one side.
Then strain the marinade through a sieve and also place the vegetables aside.
Step 5:
Reduce the marinade and brandy
Pour the wine marinade into a saucepan. Add to it the brandy, stirring briefly and bring to a boil.
Let it boil until it has reduced by half then remove it from the heat and leave it to cool
Step 6:
Season the chicken
Pat-dry the chicken with some kitchen paper.
Season it well with salt and pepper and then dust lightly with flour.
Step 7:
Brown the chicken
Heat up 2 tbsp of oil and a knob of butter in the frying pan. Once hot, fry the chicken quarters on all sides.
When nicely browned, remove the chicken from the pan with a slotted spoon and place it into a casserole dish
Step 8:
Cook the bacon
Next, add the bacon to the same frying pan and cook until brown and crispy then remove from the pan and place it into the casserole dish with the chicken.
Step 9:
Cook the vegetables
Now fry the vegetables until slightly brown and add to the casserole dish.
Step 10:
Brown the onions
Briefly clean the frying pan and start afresh with 2 tbsp of oil and a knob of butter.
When slightly hot, add the onions and cook them until golden brown then place in the casserole dish.
Step 11:
Fry the mushrooms
Cook the mushrooms while stirring for a few minutes and then add them to casserole dish.
Step 12:
Cover with the wine sauce and stock and cook
Finally, pour the reduced wine sauce and the stock over the ingredients.
Cover and place the casserole dish in the oven for 2 hours.
Take the lid off for the last 15 minutes of cooking time.
Serve while still hot.