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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Add the wine, the stock, lardons, garlic, tomato paste and mushrooms to the pan.  Cover and simmer slowly 45 minutes.
6. 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.