Coq au Vin
This recipe for the classic Coq au Vin was given me by a good friend quite some time ago. Since I’m cooking mostly meat and very little carb these days (I save my carbs for when I bake =), I thought it’d be a good time to try my hand at this recipe.
The dish looks very purple because the meat and vegetables get to stew in red wine for a good long time. And there is no tomato involved in this recipe (some Coq au Vin recipes call for tomatoes – the dish comes out looking more orange in those cases). It is simple to make, fairly healthy, and very delicious. And great if you, like us, are constantly trying to use up excess reserves of wine.
So without further ado, my friend’s excellent Coq au Vin recipe, re-ordered and re-worded by yours truly.
Coq au Vin
Ingredients (in the order that you will need them)(serves 4-6 persons):
Day before cooking:
1 onion, sliced
1-2 carrots, sliced
1 stick of celery, sliced
3 cloves of garlic
Bunch of fresh rosemary, thyme and parsley; or 1 bouquet garni
Day of cooking (2.5 hours before serving time):
4 rashes backbacon
4-6 pieces chicken leg
2 handsful of mushrooms and pearl onions (I omitted the pearl onions because I didn’t have any)
Just before serving:
75g softened butter
1 tbsp flour
Directions:
1. In a pot, combine onions, carrot, celery, garlic and herbs. Pour in 0.5-0.75 bottle of red wine and cover. Leave overnight in the fridge.
2. The next day, heat up a pan and fry bacon. Set aside bacon, and use oil from bacon to brown the chicken. (Just brown the skin slightly – no need to cook through.)
3. Heat up wine and vegetable mixture, and add the browned chicken and bacon.
4. Simmer for 1.5-2 hours on low-medium heat. In the last 20 minutes, add mushrooms and pearl onions.
5. Dish chicken and vegetables onto serving plates. The stock will likely not be thick enough to serve as sauce, so add butter and flour to thicken it.
Et voila!
(There’s chicken under there somewhere. No really.)
This is such a classic French dish. I love it. Yours look so good
Aww thanks Ellie. I actually think it looks a bit of a mess! But it tasted much better than it looked =) =)
Hope you had a great CNY (do you celebrate at all?)
Happy New Year, Clare! I made Coq Au Vin ONCE, and never again. The colour turned me and my kids off! Hahaha! At that time, I thought I must have made a mistake. How else could I explain the awful hue of gentian violet? I know it was the wine, but the colour was just awful lah. I thought my wine went bad! I’m glad to see from your photos that it’s actually what it’s supposed to be.
I don’t think I’d make it again. Purple looks good on Barney, not on my food!
Ahaha! Ju I told my husband what you wrote and he laughed out loud. You are too funny =) Proof of the pudding is in the eating my dear!
Hello, Thank you so much for dropping by my blog. I am actually planning to attend a class to learn to make this dish… will let you know if the chef’s version is purple…
Love coq au vin! Especially over buttery egg noodles. No calories, though, right? LOL
Shirley: yes definitely let me know! Better still blog about it
Carolyn: you now have me wanting buttery egg noodles, which yes, is very detrimental to my calorie count!