The French use red wine to cook their chicken in. The Italians use dry white wine in some of their chicken dishes but one of my favourites is the way the way the Portuguese do it in port or my way, which is to cook it in locally produced pink port.

Chicken done this way is a real treat and lifts the flavours of any ordinary bird to amazing new heights.

As with many lovely dishes, today’s recipe came about by, shall we say, a slight miscalculation. I was going to be fancy and slow-cook a beautiful free-range chicken gently in pink champagne until I discovered, much to my amazement, that in the process of preparing for the meal most of the champagne had disappeared out of the glass and down my throat.

So, out of sheer desperation I dashed to my liquor storage area where the closest I could find to pink champagne was one of new local pink ports, so in the pot it went and out came an absolutely marvellous variation of the traditional Boland Dronk Hoender.

Pity my newfound recipe discovery turned out to be not so original after all because when I bragged about it to one of my friends he was quick to point out that the Portuguese have been doing it for years! So much for kitchen fame and fortune.

Anyway, for the South African way of doing Galinha com Vinho do Pôrto, you need:

Ingredients

1 large organic chicken, cut into pieces

1/2 cup olive oil

500 ml pink port

1/2 packet of bacon strips, chopped into 4cm pieces

2 large onions, peeled and quartered

½ cup fresh parsley, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon plain flour

Salt and black pepper

Method

Heat the oil in a large casserole pot, add the chicken pieces and fry on fairly high heat for three minutes then turn the pieces and repeat.

Add the onion and bacon and fry until chicken has browned.

Pour the port wine over the chicken, cover and cook for about 30 minutes, turning at regular intervals, until chicken is cooked through.

Mix the flour into a paste with a little cold water and stir it into the liquid the chicken is cooking in.

When the sauce starts to thicken, add the chopped parsley and adjust the seasoning.

Serve straight from the dish onto warm plates with rice or mashed, boiled or fried potatoes, crusty bread and a big tossed salad.

Wine recommendation

De Grendel Rose 2011 – Durbanville – R43.50

This dry rose  has delicate  flavours of strawberries and raspberries with subtle whiffs of warm earth and a crisp dry finish.

To order, email Wine Concepts.

Use Boplaas Pink Port NV – Calitzdorp – R55.00 (375ml) for the recipe!