Last night, I held a small dinner party for a friend’s birthday. Since I’ve known him, he’s talked about his mother’s coq au vin, so I decided to fix the traditional French dish for his birthday. In French, coq au vin means “rooster with wine”). It’s a rustic French braised dish of chicken cooked in wine, lardons, mushrooms, and garlic.
For guidance, I turned to the coq au vin queen, Julia Child. The following recipe takes inspiration from her popular version, featured in her From Julia Child’s Kitchen.
Ingredients:
- 5 slices thick cut bacon, roughly chopped
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 pounds chicken parts (thighs, legs and breasts), thoroughly dried
- 1/4 cup Cognac
- 1/2 tsp each thyme, salt and pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 20 pearl onions, peeled
- 3 Tbsp flour
- 2 cups red wine (preferably Burgundy Pinot Noir)
- 2 cups veal stock
- 2 cloves garlic, minced finely
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 pound fresh white button mushrooms, quartered and sautéed in 2 Tbsp butter
Directions
- Sauté bacon in oil in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium heat until lightly browned, 5-8 minutes. Remove bacon lardons to a paper toweled dish for later use, leaving bacon fat in the pot.
- Add the chicken to the bacon fat over medium-high heat, and brown on all sides. You may need to do this in two batches so the pot isn’t crowded. Pour in the Cognac, shake pan a few seconds until bubbling hot, then ignite Cognac with a long lighter or a match. Let flame a minute, swirling pan by its handle to burn off alcohol then extinguish with pan cover.
- Season chicken pieces with thyme, salt and pepper. Add bay leaves. Place onions around the chicken. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, turning the chicken once.
- Uncover pan and sprinkle on the flour, turning chicken and onions so flour is absorbed. Cook 3 to 4 minutes more, turning once or twice.
- Add the wine, the stock, lardons, garlic, tomato paste and mushrooms to the pan. Cover and simmer slowly 45 minutes.
- Serve with buttered wide egg noodles.
Serves 6.
Notes: I highly suggest you make the dish through step 4 the morning or the day before you want to serve it. The flavors need to develop for best results. To reheat, place in a 325 degree oven for 30 minutes or simmer on medium-low heat for 20 minutes.
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