I made this the other day. It was improvised but turned out to be really good, and I’ve been eating leftovers for it since and not feeling put out by this at all.

• A pack of thick bacon. I used about half of it for something else, but reused the frying pan with the bacon fat in it as well as some of the bacom
• 8 small red onions, sliced
• About 50g butter
• About a tbsp dark brown sugar
• A fair bit of salt (I’ve no idea how much. “to taste”)
• About half a bottle of dry red wine
• 8 chicken breasts

Equipment needed: Food processor, frying pan, small baking tray

First fry the bacon quite thoroughly, then take it out and put it aside. Add the butter to the fat in the pan, let it melt, then add the onions, salt and sugar. Put on a high heat and cook for bloody ages until the onions are properly caramelized (no “put on high heat for 10 minutes” nonsense. Caramelising onions properly takes most of an hour). Slice the bacon quite thinly, add it to the onions, fry for a few more minutes then add about half the wine and some water so that the onions are just covered. Lower the heat a bit and simmer, stirring occasionally, until you’ve got a thick reduction. Add the rest of the wine and a fair bit more water and simmer for another half hour or so.

Once this is cooked, transfer to the blender and blend until you’ve got a smooth, thick sauce.

Place the chicken breasts in your baking tray and cover with the sauce.

Now bake in the oven at 160C until the chicken is tender and easily comes apart when you poke it with a fork (I think this took a little over an hour, but I forgot to time).

This should probably be part of a larger meal, but I’ve mostly just been eating it with bread. The sauce is amazing, so you definitely want something that soaks it up.

When reheating it I’ve been slicing the chicken, spooning on extra sauce and frying it in a bit of butter.