Medieval chicken ambrosia with dried fruits

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 chicken, approx. 1 – 1.2 kg
• 40 g bacon, fattier
• 2 large onions
• 8 dates, dried
• 10 prunes
• 2 slices of white bread
• 200 ml white wine
• 50 ml white wine vinegar
• 100 ml chicken broth
• 500 ml almond milk (almond drink), unsweetened or coconut milk
• 1 cinnamon stick(s)
• 3 carnations
• nutmeg
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours

Make the stock fresh if you don’t have any. Toast the bread slices and remove the crusts. Cut the chicken into pieces. Grind the cinnamon and cloves to a powder in a mortar or with an electric coffee grinder. Halve the prunes and dates if they are too large; otherwise, leave them whole. Fry the bacon in a large pan. Add the chicken and brown in batches. Season with salt. Remove the meat from the pan. Add the onions to the pan and sauté. Mix the almond milk, stock, and half of the white wine and add it. Stir in the cinnamon and clove powder and return the meat to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Then, skim off any excess fat from the surface. Mix the bread, the remaining white wine, and the vinegar into a paste and stir it into the sauce with the chicken. Add the prunes and dates and remove the pan from the heat as soon as the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg. Rice goes well with this. If you’re not concerned with medieval authenticity, potatoes would also work. Almond milk is available at health food stores. It can be substituted with thin coconut milk in a pinch.