Welcome to Voo's (Psst, prepare to gain weight)

Serves 4 people

8 Chicken Thighs, Bone In (Skin on too, DUH!)
3-4 Cups Chicken Stock
10 Button Mushrooms, washed and sliced into thick slices
1/2 Leek, finely chopped
1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, crushed
2 Carrots, sliced into 1-inch sticks *
3 Stalks Celery, sliced into 1-inch sticks *
1.5 Cups Dry White Wine (I used a Chardonnay)
All Purpose Flour
2 Bay Leaves
Thyme, 2 pinches
Paprika
Olive Oil
Unsalted Butter
Salt and Pepper
* I have the carrots and celery in big pieces so that they don't turn into mush when cooked.

Pre-heat oven to 375°F

Mushrooms
In a pre-heated pan (medium high-high heat), add olive oil and a 1/4-inch slice of butter.
Add mushrooms and leave them to sear.

Do NOT move them as you want the mushrooms to develop a nice dark color. Moving them will make them sweat and you will end up with boiled mushrooms. Also, do not salt them till I say 'add salt', as salt will make the mushrooms extrude (Ooooo fancy word) their water too fast.

After about 3-4 minutes, the mushrooms will have a nice nutty aroma. Move a few around and they should be dark brown. Toss the mushrooms and allow the others to brown. You want the mushrooms to reduce in size by 2/3's. Searing them concentrates the flavor and the browning adds a nice flavor to the mushrooms. At this point, add salt and pepper to taste and deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup of wine, and continue cooking till the wine has evaporated. Remove from pan and set aside.

Stew
REMINDER: As always you should always taste the dish as you cook it. If it's raw/undercooked chicken, don't be a retard and taste that. I am NOT responsible for your stupid actions. Use common sense, kthx. Basically the dish should be under-salted all the way till you finish baking it in the oven. I would highly recommend using low-sodium broth as the dish will reduce. If it's still under-seasoned at the end, re-season the stew after you have removed the chicken. 'Coz really, stirring the stew with the pan crowded with chicken thighs is just silly.

Season chicken thighs with salt, pepper and paprika. Coat chicken in flour.

Heat heavy sauce pan on medium heat. Add olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan and sear the chicken thighs till both sides are golden brown and the skin is crispy.

Do not crowd the pan as it will lower the temperature and you will end up boiling the chicken instead of browning them. My pan fits 4 thighs comfortably and I did the searing in 2 batches. You want to have enough heat to brown the chicken, but not so much that it burns the pieces of chicken bits and flour left in the pan as you sear your second batch. You will have to find out what that fine line is. Good luck :P

Remove chicken and set aside. Lower heat to medium-low, drain all but 3 tbsp of oil from the pan, return pan to stove and add the carrots and celery. Fry for 1 minute. Add onions, leek and garlic, fry for an additional minute. Add 2 rounded tbsp of flour to the vegetables and cook for 1.5 minutes. Add 1-cup white wine and reduce for another minute. (Are you sick of reading the word 'minute' yet?).

Add mushrooms, bay leaves, thyme, chicken stock and stir a few times. Place chicken thighs on top of the vegetables and bring dish to a boil. There should be enough liquid to reach the edges of the chicken skin.

Once the liquid comes to a boil, place pan in the oven for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, take the pan out from the oven. Remove bay leaves and garlic cloves.

Serve with garlic bread, mashed potatoes or over egg noodles.

Note:
Stews are usually cooked in a pot, on a stove, but, since I enjoy eating chicken skin (Mmmmm) I came up with a unique way of cooking this to ensure I get the best of both worlds, stew with crispy skin, OMG how good is that! By finishing the dish in the oven and not covering the skin in liquid, it remains crispy throughout the cooking process. Naturally you could remove the skin or use chicken breasts (Why anyone would want to do that?). But, since I don't eat chicken breasts (they are too dry, even when cooked properly *cough*), you'll have to change the recipe if you want to make that substitution. The cooking time will be different tho.

Yes, yes, I said the pork update would be first. Sorry, the chicken will have to do for now.