Coq au Vin
The basis for this recipe comes from the Bon Appetit “Classic Coq au Vin” from October 2002 (via Epicurious) but I ended up with some alterations as I went along.
Ingredients for 4 people
Marinade
1 bottle (750ml) Pinot Noir (in my case Argentinian, rather than traditional Burgundy)
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 tsp black peppercorns
4 cloves garlic (crushed)
Sauce
Chicken (1 whole one chopped up / 8-10 thighs or legs)
8 shallots (halved)
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
~20 small mushrooms (quartered)
4 rashers bacon (chopped up)
500ml chicken stock
3 1/2 dessert spoons flour
Thyme
Parsley
(Bay Leaves - I had run out, so missed these out)
Salt & Pepper
Method
Marinade
1. Dice carrots and celery & put in pan with wine, peppercorns and garlic
2. Heat and simmer for 5-10 mins
3. Allow to cool before pouring over chicken pieces in large casserole dish or equivalent
4. Cover and leave overnight to marinade
Main Event
1. Remove chicken from marinade, place to drain with paper towels to dry off as much as possible
2. Sieve marinade and keep liquid and vegetable solids separately
3. In a big pan (large enough for a single layer of chicken plus all the sauce) add a glug off olive oil and fry off the bacon pieces until crispy (5 mins)
4. Remove the bacon and place the chicken pieces in the pan to brown off in the juices, skin side first (8 mins per side)
5. Remove the chicken and place to one side
6. Add the vegetables from the marinade to the pan, add the halved shallots and brown off. Add the mushrooms after about 5 mins and continue for another 5 mins or so.
7. Add the flour to the vegetables in the pan and stir it in to soak up the juices in the pan and coat the vegetables
8. Gradually pour in the marinade liquid (flavoured wine) and keep stirring. The sauce will start to thicken
9. Add the chicken stock and keep stirring until blended together
10. Add chopped garlic & herbs
11. Bring temperature up to simmer
12. Add chicken back to the pot, skin side up
13. Place lid on pan and cook for 30 minutes
14. Turn chicken over and add bacon pieces, then cook for another 20 minutes
15. Remove lid and simmer for a further 10 minutes
16. Serve up - spoon out the sauce and place the chicken pieces on top (or however you feel)
Enjoy with accompanying potatoes and another nice bottle of wine… we went for a Chateauneuf du Pape (I know nothing of pairing wines, but IMHO it worked!)
(Differences from the original recipe was that they removed the original vegetables and added the mushrooms and some other onions later… I didn’t see the point in wasting the veg, even if its not the traditional or classic way so I just left them in)
