Fall is here and in no time winter will be here in the Miss-Lou. It’s time to put away your summer recipes and think about cold weather dishes.

For me it means dusting off the bright red cast iron enameled pot my children gave a couple of Christmases ago.

Technically a risotto pot, I use it for many dishes. It’s perfect for stew, pot roast slowly cooked in the oven, chicken and dumplings and this wonderful recipe for chicken in red wine sauce. It is very similar to the traditional French dish Coq au Vin. It comes from on of my favorite Southern chefs, Art Smith.

I like to serve it with grits but a lot of people would probably prefer rice. When I’m serving grits for a meal besides breakfast I cook them in chicken broth, cooked that way is perfect to serve this chicken and wine sauce with.

Chicken in red wine sauce

Marinade:

3 cups of a hearty dry red wine, such as a Zinfandel

1 small onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 stalk of celery, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

3 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

2 bay leaves

3 1/2 pound chicken cut into pieces

Salt and ground black pepper

1/3 cup flour

4 tablespoon olive oil

10 ounces mushrooms, sliced (original recipe calls for plain white button mushrooms, I like to use the baby portabellos)

2 tablespoons butter, cut up

Mix all of the marinade ingredients (I use a large two gallon Zip-loc bag) add the chicken pieces and seal. Place in the refrigerator for at least 3 or 4 hours, overnight is better.

Remove the chicken form the marinade and pat the chicken dry with a paper towel.

Reserve the marinade. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in a shallow bowl and sprinkle with the flour, coat the chicken pieces and shake off the excess flour.

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

Add the chicken and cook, turning occasionally until browned on all sides, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Pour the marinade into the skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up any bits on the bottom of the skillet. Return the chicken to the skillet.

Cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer, turning the chicken once, until the chicken shows no sign of pink when pierced, about 30 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm.

While the chicken is simmering, in a smaller separate skillet heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and cook the mushrooms until browned.

Increase the heat to high under the chicken skillet and boil the sauce until thickened about 5 minutes. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

Turn the heat off and whisk in the butter, add the mushrooms. Serve the chicken over rice or grits and spoon the sauce over the top.

Christina Hall writes a weekly column for The Democrat. She can be reached at christina.hall@natchezdemocrat.com