Coq Au Vin (photos)

This recipe is a nod to Julia, Alton and Shoeless Ina. Because of unexpected and unavoidable delays during the preparation my belief was that this dish (which I worked on for three nights) would be a wasted effort. However the final result was a pretty good dish - certainly worthy of sharing.

a note - if you work outside the home for a living, the lengthy preparation requirements to make Coq Au Vin turn this into a Saturday dish. If your daily work keeps you at home, enjoy the full day's prep that is needed to make the dish and go for it any day of the week. My belief is that the wonderful flavor of my dish benefited from resting in the refrigerator.

Coq Au Vin:

SAY WHAT??????????



To make this dish my way, you will need:

A 3-5 pound hen, cut and brined (unless you can find an old rooster)
1/4 cup bacon or pork fatback
14 ounces low sodium chicken broth
4 large carrots
2 cups pearl onions
2 cups fresh mushrooms
4-6 cloves fresh garlic
2 cups good red wine - I used 2011 Napa Valley Starmont Cabernet Sauvignon.
1/2 cup Cognac from an old (+- 15 years in the back of my liquor cabinet) bottle of Remy Martin
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon tomato paste



Night One - Making Brown chicken stock

I butchered my hen, yielding 2 legs, 2 thighs, 4 half breast portions (halved after this photo), the back, heart, gizzard and 2 wings. For some reason my chicken evidently survived without her neck and liver. Would have been nice to have them in the broth.



My intent was to use the back, heart, wings, gizzard and a box of low sodium broth to make a brown stock. Into the roaster they went with garlic salt, and pepper.



and out after 2 hours of open roasting at 350 degrees.



with broth, a carrot, one stalk of celery, 2 cloves of garlic, black pepper and half an onion.



Oh - and cup of water and a bouillon cube. Telma is good stuff. Low sodium and a nice chicken graphic on the wrapper.



After two hours at a low boil with a lid.



and strained to yield four cups. Refrigerated over night and fat skimmed off before use.



Chicken pieces went into a salt and sugar brine overnight.

Night Two:

Rendered fat from 1/4 cup of bacon in my heavy pan - maybe 5 slices.



Added two Tablespoons olive oil to bacon fat and browned off the (unseasoned) chicken, making certain not to crowd it in the pan.



Then lightly sautéed (separately) the pearl onions and mushrooms in the fat.



Returned the browned chicken to the pot.



And added 2 cups of wine, 2 cups of chicken stock, 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1 Tablespoon tomato paste, 8-10 sprigs of Thyme and a Bay Leaf.





I got this hot and then everything went back into the refrigerator for an overnight rest.

Night three:

The Chicken pot, mushrooms and onions come out of the refrigerator. The pot goes back onto the stove. Peel and cut four large carrots. Into the pot they go to cook for maybe 20 minutes - until they begin to get tender.



Then the onions and mushrooms are added, and cooked for maybe 10 minutes.



All is removed and a Beurre manié made to thicken the sauce. The chicken, onions, mushrooms and carrots are returned to the thickened sauce.

Our Coq Au Vin was served over wide noodles with toasted French bread.



A nice classic French poultry dish and worthy of your time.

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