Coq au Vin

After the Saturday night shindig, I was left with an open bottle of southern French red wine (a Grenache, Syrah blend). While it was a great sipping wine, full of dark fruit notes, I also had about six pounds of chicken parts taking up room in the freezer. It didn’t take an English -> French dictionary to figure out I had the makings for Coq au Vin.

Yes, technically Coq means “rooster”, but the last time I checked, Whole Foods wasn’t carrying tough old cocks and if you want to be all purist, by all means, go bag yourself a rooster. The rest, au vin literally means “in wine” and honestly I can’t think of a better marriage, especially with a little bacon, mirepoix and mushrooms!

      

Despite vast regional difference in ingredients I more or less stuck to the “classic” ingredients for this one, but I introduced some different techniques and my own sequence to try and maximize the flavour and minimize the work. Basically I use the bacon as the fat to fry the chicken and mirepoix in, all of which create a very thick layer of delicious brown fond at the bottom of the pan. The cognac deglazes the pan and adds it’s own smokey flavour and then the chicken braises in a 50/50 mixture of wine and stock. When the chicken is done, mushrooms and sweet cipollini onions are added along with a roux (made with the bacon/chicken fat) to finish the sauce.

This yields perfectly cooked chicken, mushrooms and onions, smothered in a rich sauce with depth that you just wouldn’t expect in a chicken dish. I love having this over a bed of creamy mashed yukon gold potatoes, but it’s just as good served as a stew with a crusty baguette.

1/3 lb. extra thick cut bacon cut into batons
8 chicken thighs with skin and bone
1 large onion chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
4 cloves garlic sliced thin
Cognac or Armanac
2 C red wine
2 C chicken stock
1-2 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
3 Tbs tomato paste

2 Tbs flour
1/2 lbs button mushrooms quartered
1/2 lbs cipollini onions peeled
1/3 C roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

In a large chef’s pan or dutch oven, fry the bacon over medium heat until most of the fat has rendered out (but not until the bacon is crisp). Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Generously salt and pepper the chicken thighs and place in the hot pan, skin side down. Leave undisturbed for 6-7 minutes or until skin is golden brown, then flip allowing to brown lightly on the second side. Transfer to plate.

Remove 2 Tbs of fat from the pan and set aside in a small bowl. Add the onion, celery and garlic and saute until soft, scrapping the fond off the bottom of the pan so it doesn’t burn. Hit the pan with a generous splash of Cognac to deglaze the pan. Allow most of the liquid to evaporate, then add the red wine, chicken stock, bay leaf, thyme, and tomato paste. Return the bacon and chicken to the pan and turn several times to make sure they are well coated and submerged in the liquid. Cover with the lid slightly askew (so steam can escape) and simmer over medium low heat until the chicken is tender 35-45 minutes.

Add 2 Tbs flour to the fat you’ve reserved and stir until there are no lumps. When the chicken is tender, transfer to a plate and tent with foil. Add the mushrooms and onions to the pan and turn up the heat to medium, simmering uncovered for about 15 minutes or until the onions are cooked and the sauce has reduced a bit. Add a few tablespoons of sauce to the fat/flour mixture and stir to make a slurry. Add the slurry to the sauce in the pan one spoonful at a time, mixing well after each addition to make sure there are no lumps. I don’t like my sauce too thick, so I stopped about 2/3 of the way through, but if you like a very thick sauce, you can add all the roux. Salt and pepper to taste, then return the chicken to to pot to reheat and coat with the sauce.

Serve over mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or as a stew with a crusty baguette. I also like to sprinkle a little finishing salt like Fleur de Sel on top.

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