Chicken with Beer or Cider (Poulet à la Bière ou Cidre) (So easy!)

Serves 2.

Time requirement: about an hour. But half that time is the chicken cooking in the oven while you can be doing other things.

What you will need:

Two chicken legs and thighs, skin on, bone in.

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

1 medium onion chopped.

6-8 white button or brown cremini mushrooms, cut in half or quarters.

2 carrots washed peeled and sliced into ½ inch rounds.

1 bouget garni of a strip of celery, a sprig of parsley, a sprig of thyme, and a bay leaf: all held together with cotton twine.

2 tablespoons light olive oil.

2 tablespoons butter.

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour.

¼ cup heavy cream.

Beer, 12 ounces of a strong brown beer. I use Celebrator, a dark malty rich Bavarian double bock. OR a very dry hard apple cider.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2 warm serving bowls.

Preparation:

Dry the chicken with paper towels. Set it on a plate and sprinkled with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set the chicken aside while you prepare the onion, carrots, mushrooms, and bouquet garni.

Heat a 4–5-quart Dutch oven over a medium meat. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil.

When the oil is hot add the chicken, skin side down, and brown well. Turn and brown on the other side(s). Depending on the pan and the heat this will take 5-8 minutes.

Remove the chicken to a plate. Lower the heat a little, add the butter to the pan, when the butter foam subsides, add the onions, and cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Add the carrots and mushrooms. Stir these and cook them for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the bouquet garni, cover the pan, and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Uncover the pan, sprinkle the whole with the flour and give it a good stir. Add the beer to the pan and heat until it simmers. Return the chicken to the pan, skin side up. Place the pan (uncovered) in the oven and cook for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove the pan from the oven, remove the chicken from the pan. Set the chicken on a plate and cover with foil. Remove and discard the bouquet garni. Bring the contents of the pan to a simmer on the stove top, reduce the cooking juices into sauce, add the cream, stir it well into the sauce.

Divide the sauce and vegetables between the two warm bowls and top with the chicken. Serve it forth!