Chicken with Prunes and Red Wine

👨‍🍳 Method

To assemble

1. 1
   Heat the oil in a wide pot and brown the chicken legs on all sides. Remove to a plate.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveWide, shallow pot

   💡Brown the meat in batches, without crowding: in a crowded pot it stews in its own juices instead of searing.

   💡What you brown (meat, patties, schnitzel) goes into hot oil: in lukewarm oil it soaks it up and comes out greasy. For onion and garlic that you soften, oil heated over medium or low heat is enough; do not wait for it to smoke.
2. 2
   Add the onion to the oil left in the wide pot and fry for 15 minutes over low heat, stirring, until the onion caramelizes.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStoveWide, shallow pot

   💡The onion caramelizes in the fat left from searing and in whatever stuck to the bottom: the liquid poured in after it dissolves the browned bottom into the sauce.

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 3
   Add the wine, honey, prunes, bay leaves and cinnamon stick and bring to a boil.

   Stove
4. 4
   Return the chicken legs to the pot and season with salt and black pepper.
5. 5
   Turn down to low, cover and simmer 45 minutes, until the chicken legs soft.

   ⚙ SimmeringStoveLid

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
6. 6
   Remove the lid and cook another 15 minutes, until the sauce thickens.

   Stove
7. 7
   Serve with mashed potatoes.