I have been sitting on this post for about 9 months now because I wasn’t sure it looked appealing. I was worried that you wouldn’t be inspired enough to try it.

Sometimes though we need to be reminded that we are our own worst critic and a good friend of mine just did that. She said its picture looked ‘tasty and who cares what it looks like anyway’ and this made me remember that this blog is all about food connection and the way food makes you feel.

So here it is :).

Coq au vin is a “peasant” French dish of braised chicken (cockerel traditionally) in red wine with a generous heap of bacon, onion, carrots and celery. I should have served with more sauce than shown in the photos below but rest assured the chicken was lovely and tender :).

You will be:

1. Preparing your ingredients
2. Browning the chicken
3. Making the sauce
4. Slow cook everything
5. Reducing the sauce
6. Serving.

You will need:

• Ingredients:
  • a whole chicken, skin off, cut into quarters (mine was about 1.3kg)
  • 1 celery stick, chopped
  • 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 140g bacon, chopped (I used ‘short cut’ rashers)
  • 1 large brown onion, sliced
  • black peppercorns to taste, cracked
  • 1 cup plain flour to dust the chicken pieces
  • a good slug of olive oil
  • 2 cups red wine
  • 1/2 cup homemade chicken stock
  • A handful of small or chopped mushrooms
•  Equipment:
  • a long sharp knife
  • a chopping board
  • an oven proof dish
  • tongs
  • a wooden spoon
  • a dish to keep chicken warm

Preparing your ingredients

1. Chop the 1 large brown onion into quarters or slices depending on your preference (you could even use a few whole shallots instead).
2. Chop the 2 carrots and the celery stick the way you want too (sometime I prefer larger pieces of vegetables in this dish).
3. Quarter the whole chicken (I recommend this knife), remove the skin and dust in flour and black pepper.
4. Chop the 140g of bacon.

Browning the chicken

1. Chuck a good slug of olive oil in the oven proof dish and put it on the hob (medium heat).
2. Brown chicken on all sides.
3. Take the chicken pieces out, put them on a plate and chuck them in an oven on very low heat to keep them warm.

Making the sauce

1. Put a good slug of red wine to moisten the oven proof dish and then add the:
   • 1 celery stick, chopped
   • 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
   • 140g bacon, chopped
   • 1 large brown onion, sliced
2. Throw in the handful of chopped mushrooms.
3. Add the remainder of the 2 cups red wine and bring to the boil to cook off the alcohol.
4. Replace the chicken, cover and put the hob on low heat.

 

Slow cook everything

Cook for about an hour, turning the chicken every now and again.

Reducing the sauce

Remove the chicken again and put it back into the oven to keep it warm while you reduce the rest of the sauce.

Serving

Mashed or boiled potatoes will go a treat and I also recommend adding some steamed snow peas pods and a nice crusty baguette :).

Enjoy,

PK

Related Links:

• See more chicken recipe posts here