A Month-of-Mediterranean: Greek Chicken Stifado

Oh. My. Gosh. I am giving this recipe 5 Tongues Up! You can read DH’s rating at the bottom. This is tender chicken in a mulled red wine sauce. And it is company-worthy!

I love Coq au Vin (in fact that’s what I made for my wedding supper), and this is reminiscent, but flavored with spices that bring a distinctiveness to the chicken.

In the original Greek recipe, stifado is made with rabbit. Not really available at my grocery store, but if you find it in yours, give it a try. Instead, I substituted chicken thighs. Some recipes (they’re all over the Internet) show chicken breasts as a substitute for rabbit. We use a lot of thighs, however, because the meat is tastier.

I served it with buttered noodles, ladling the sauce and onions onto the chicken. A salad made this a very filling meal. Next time I will probably prepare orzo with broth to be a bit different.

Greek Chicken Stifado: (serves 4)

4 chicken thighs

1 package frozen pearl onions

2 bay leaves

1 orange peel, torn into pieces

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cups red wine

½ teaspoon allspice

1 cup water

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cinnamon stick

10 whole peppercorns

Salt and pepper

Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.

Place four chicken thighs in bottom of slow cooker. Salt and pepper them generously.

Place orange peel pieces and bay leaves on top of chicken, then put pearl onions on and around the chicken.

Mix together extra-virgin olive oil, red wine, allspice, water and tomato paste. Add in cinnamon stick and peppercorns. Pour over the chicken in slow cooker.

Turn slow cooker to low and cook for six hours.

Serve with sides. Add extra salt and pepper at the table if needed.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

He said how different it was with the spiced wine sauce. He wants me to make it again, always a good sign.