Grammy Freer's Chicken In A Wine Sauce

Some of my most beloved childhood memories are of cooking and baking with my Grammy Freer (yes, I am 31, and yes I will call her Grammy no matter how old I get).  Much of what I know about kitchen fundamentals comes from spending good chunks of my formative years, standing on a step stool, at her side while she baked pies and cookies or made homemade french fries.  There was even a somewhat "explosive" incident involving our first attempt at cream puffs.  So it's no surprise that I've been waiting in hopes of just the right mix of items in the Crop Share so that I can feature one of my Grammy's recipes, her Chicken In A Wine Sauce.  If you're anything like me, she had you at "wine sauce."  So enjoy putting this week's carrots and fresh parsley to good use in this recipe from one awesome lady!  Oh and...Hi Grammy!  ;)

Grammy Freer's Chicken In A Wine Sauce

Ingredients:
4 bone in chicken breasts, skinned
4 bone in chicken thighs, skinned
4 bone in chicken legs, skinned
1/2 tsp Kosher salt, divided
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp canola or olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup thinly diced carrots
1/2 cup thinly diced celery
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 cups dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour (sub in gluten-free flour or cornstarch for gluten-free version)
3 Tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy-bottom, oven-safe pan over medium high heat.  Season chicken with salt & pepper, and begin to add about half of the chicken to the pan to begin to brown, for about 4 - 5 minutes.  Remove from pan and repeat with remaining chicken till all are browned.  Set aside chicken

Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic to the pan and cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add wine and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to remove any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Return chicken to pan.  Combine flour and stock in a bowl, whisking until smooth.  Add to the pan and stir to incorporate.  Stir in tarragon, parsley, mustard and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, then cover and place in oven to bake at 325 for 1 hour or until chicken is very tender.  Remove chicken and bay leaf and stir butter into sauce.

If sauce is too thin when you remove the chicken, bring back to a boil on the stove top for about 5 additional minutes until the sauce reduces and thickens to more of a gravy consistency.  Serve pieces of chicken topped with the pan sauce.