Coq Au Rielsing

Not many people have heard of this dish, and those who have look down on it as a cheap knock-off of the much more popular Coq Au Vin. The main difference between the two recipes is that Vin is made with red wine, but Riesling is made with the very acidic, German white wine- Riesling as the latter comes from the North of France where this type of wine is much more common. It is also, for me, the reason why Coq au Riesling makes much more sense- a strong dark red wine would need so much cooking down and the flavour doesn't work with white meat, the deep casserole would work in my mind with beef or lamb. A white wine seems much more appropriate for the more delicate white meat of chicken. If you haven't heard of this, or want to go for the cliche dinner party option of Coq Au Vin, try this instead- you will be converted. I plan to make a revolution in the future, and overthrow Coq au Riesling's overpowered, established cousin. Yeh, that's how far my life ambitions go...
However, I must admit that I became sceptical of the recipe whilst making it. When I added the bottle of wine (yes, the whole bottle) the sauce had a nasty bitter, raw alcohol flavour, but it didn't take long at all for the wine to mellow into a rich, tangy sauce that is rather fabulous. The other tasty Provencial Herbs and flavours in the recipe work with the tart sauce in such a delicious fashion.
1)Melt some butter with some oil in a large casserole, then tumble in 100g of smoked bacon lardons until they reduce, then add two small sliced leeks. Onions would be more typical, but leeks give the same flavour but also become a foreground element, rather than just disappearing into the dish like onions. Cook until softened, then add about 4 cloves of minced garlic. When the leeks are really soft, add some mushrooms- I bought a woodland selection of mushrooms which included oyster and Chanterelle, but omitted the Shitake variety (I will use them soon!) and then a handful of chestnut mushrooms to bulk it out. Add 2 teaspoons of dried thyme and cook them until they reduce lots, and set them all aside.
2)In a separate pan, brown the meat. I think skinned thigh meats, with or without bone are best here.
3)To your mushrooms and leeks, add another knob of butter and melt it in. To thicken the casserole, many ask for eggs and cream, but this combination makes me a little anxious so what I do is make a sort of lazy roux- add 3 tablespoons of plain flour, and cook for 2 more minutes. Next, you can add a whole 750ml bottle of good dry Riesling (if you can't find it another dry white wine will do) and stir it well until you have a milky sauce. Add your chicken, two bay leaves, and a chicken stock cube or pot. Simmer everything gently, until the sauce thickens. Clamp the lid on, and simmer everything together really slowly for about an hour, being sure to give the pan a good stir every 15 minutes or so to pick up all the sticky bits at the bottom of the pan (they provide a lot of flavour).
4)To serve with the casserole, you could have rice or mashed potatoes, but a nice option is some cooked buttered pasta, a shape like conchiglie or tagliatelle would be nice, don't use the fusilli I had (I'm sorry to be a hypocrite again, but it's all I had) and plenty of fresh dill.