Sunday Comfort: coq au vin

Yesterday was a cloudy, snowy Sunday and that means that we needed some yummy comfort food. This meal is particularly meant for a special occasion or for once in a while.The reason I say that is this is not the type of recipe where you happen to have all of the ingredients lying around. I used the recipe from Ina Garten and my modifications are in parentheses.

Coq Au Vin (in other words, yummy French stew)

Ingredients

• 4 ounces good bacon or pancetta, diced ( I used bacon)
• 1 (3 to 4-pound) chicken, cut in 8ths (Seeings how I'm pregnant again, I was not about to butcher in anyway a chicken. I bought drumsticks, breast, and thighs separately and froze what I didn't use. I also trimmed the skin and fat from the thighs since they are such a fatty cut.)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound carrots, cut diagonally in 1-inch pieces
• 1 yellow onion, sliced (I omitted this completely)
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic (also sold conveniently in pre-chopped squeeze tubes :) )
• 1/4 cup Cognac or good brandy (I omitted this completely--it wasn't worth the purchase)
• 1/2 bottle (375 ml) good dry red wine such as Burgundy (I used a Cabernet Sauvignon 375mL= 1 1/2 cups. We have used both wines and honestly I couldn't tell a difference. I'm no wine connoisseur. Also, if you're like me you don't have a corkscrew at home. Luckily wine comes with twist-off tops)
• 1 cup good chicken stock, preferably homemade (I used it from a can, homemade is way too involved for me)
• 10 fresh thyme sprigs (I used an italian blend of thyme and oregano for a little more depth, about 1 tablespoon)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 pound frozen small whole onions (I could not find them frozen so I had to buy them fresh and the bag was larger than 1/2 lb, hence the reason I omitted the yellow onion.)
• 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, stems removed and thickly sliced (no creminis where I shopped, so I used baby bellas--still just as good).

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove the bacon to a plate with a slotted spoon.


Meanwhile, lay the chicken out on paper towels and pat dry. Liberally sprinkle the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. When the bacon is removed, brown the chicken pieces in batches in a single layer for about 5 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Remove the chicken to the plate with the bacon and continue to brown until all the chicken is done. Set aside.

Add the carrots, onions (here I put in the pearl onions since they were fresh. I didn't want al dente onions as this recipe calls for the pearls at the end), 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper to the pan and cook over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the Cognac and put the bacon, chicken, and any juices that collected on the plate into the pot. Add the wine, chicken stock, and thyme and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just not pink. Remove from the oven and place on top of the stove.


Mash 1 tablespoon of butter and the flour together and stir into the stew. Add the frozen onions (I did this much earlier to ensure they were fully cooked). In a medium saute pan, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and cook the mushrooms over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until browned. Add to the stew. Bring the stew to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes. Season to taste. Serve hot.

My notes: depending on how much your chicken cooked in the browning process depends on how long you need yours to stay in the oven. Because I bought mine all separately, the pieces were smaller and so they cooked much faster. I did not have to leave it in as long. 

If you get stuck buying fresh pearl onions, a quick tip to peeling them is to boil a pot of water, dump in the onions and let them boil for about a minute, then remove them. The onions skins will come off super easy this way and you don't have to worry about peeling a bajillion onions.

Remember to get wine with a twist-off top if you don't have a wine key/cork screw. Nothing is worse than getting home and not being able to open the wine, or having to knife away at the cork until it disintegrates or falls inward to the wine.

 Browning the bacon. As you can see I did not use a dutch oven-- this is an oven-safe pot and it worked great!

 Diagonal cuts. I used baby carrots, mostly because they are easier to eat than big ol' chunks of regular carrot.

 Post-boiled onion: you can see the skins peeling right off. I chopped the ends and it was easy to get them peeled.

 Browning the chicken. I recommend rotating the chicken in terms of placement because if your oven/coil is like mine, all of the fat sat at the bottom and cooked whatever was down there a lot quicker than what was at the top.

 Sauteeing the carrots and onions. I did chop some of the pearls so that they would spread more of their flavor since I omitted the yellow onion.

 Added the chicken back in with the vegetables, as well as the stock and wine. This is pre-oven.

 This is post-oven. The chicken will get a dark exterior from the wine, but the inside stays nice and white and juicy!

 Sauteeing the mushrooms. This is the first time I used baby bellas and they are kind of a sensitive mushroom, meaning they bruised easily.

 All together in the pot.

Served atop mashed potatoes--enjoy!