Recipe: chicken with beaujolais, prunes, shallots and thyme by Claire Thomson
An autumn recipe to cook in mid-November – when beaujolais nouveau is released

This is the ultimate autumn recipe, said Claire Thomson: it's one to cook in mid-November, when beaujolais nouveau is released. The other ingredients – prunes, thyme, garlic and Dijon – will also flatter and elevate the chicken. Serve it on a pile of buttery mashed potato, with a glass of the same wine in hand. Go old-fashioned and tie your parsley and thyme stalks, wrapped in the bay leaves and secured with some kitchen string, into a bouquet garni.
Ingredients: serves 4
- 1kg whole chicken thighs, legs, drumsticks or breasts
- 50g butter
- 4 large or 12 small shallots, peeled (leave the root on to help them hold together)
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 thyme sprigs, plus ½ tsp picked thyme leaves
- ½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped and stalks reserved
- 2 bay leaves
- 200ml beaujolais, or another young, fruity red wine
- 16 pitted prunes
- 200ml chicken stock
- 1 tbsp Dijon, plus more to serve
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Melt the butter in a casserole pan over a moderate heat. Add the chicken, and fry for around 5 minutes, turning, until golden brown all over. Add the shallots and continue to cook for another 4-5 minutes, until they too have taken on a bit of colour.
- Turn down the heat and add the tomato purée, garlic, thyme sprigs, parsley stalks and bay leaves and stir gently.
- Then add the wine, stirring well to dislodge any bits of caramelised chicken stuck to the pan. Simmer for a few minutes, then add the prunes and the chicken stock. Cook over a low-moderate heat for around 30-40 minutes, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and leave it to rest on a plate, keeping it warm, while you reduce the liquid in the pan over a high heat for a couple of minutes to thicken it slightly. Add the Dijon and whisk to combine.
- Add the chicken back into the sauce in the pan and season well with salt, if needed, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.
- Remove from the heat and strew with the chopped parsley and picked thyme leaves, and with more mustard on the side.
Recipe from "One Pan Chicken: 70 All-in-One Chicken Recipes For Simple Meals, Every Day" by Claire Thomson, published by Quadrille at £20. Photography by Sam Folan. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £15.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.
Sign up for The Week's Food & Drink newsletter for recipes, reviews and recommendations.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Ancient India: living traditions – 'ethereal and sensual' exhibition
The Week Recommends Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism are explored in show that remains 'remarkably compact'
-
6 well-preserved homes built in the 1930s
Feature Featuring a restored 1934 colonial in Arizona and a cold-storage warehouse turned loft in New York City
-
Things in Nature Merely Grow: memoir of 'harsh beauty' after loss
The Week Recommends Chinese-American novelist Yiyun Li's 'devastating' memoir explores the deaths of her two sons
-
Sirens: entertaining satire on the lives of the ultra-wealthy stars Julianne Moore
The Week Recommends This 'blackly comic affair' unfurls at a 'breakneck speed'
-
Mrs Warren's Profession: 'tour-de-force' from Imelda Staunton and daughter Bessie Carter
The Week Recommends Mother-daughter duo bring new life to George Bernard Shaw's morality play
-
Critics' choice: Steak houses that break from tradition
Feature Eight hours of slow-roasting prime rib, a 41-ounce steak, and a former Catholic school chapel turned steakhouse
-
Tash Aw's 6 favorite books about forbidden love
Feature The Malaysian novelist recommends works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and more
-
Film reviews: Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, Lilo & Stitch, and Final Destination: Bloodlines
Feature Tom Cruise risks life and limb to entertain us, a young girl befriends a destructive alien, and death stalks a family that resets fate's toll.