Coq au Vin

I was feeling like I needed some really good cooking time.  I have a new job and it has been keeping me crazy busy lately. So busy that cooking has become, "fix whatever is easy and fast".  Not fun adventurous cooking. So, I decided to take on another famous Julia Child recipe, Coq au Vin. My first Julia recipe was Beef Bouguignon. 


I popped in Julie and Julia just before I started cooking for some extra inspiration! :)

This is the recipe that I used. I changed it up a bit based on another blog I saw when I was looking for the recipe and I dredged my boneless skinless breasts and thighs in flour before I browned them. Other than that I stayed true to the recipe. Even down to the flambéing. It was the first time I had ever done it and I have to say I was a bit scared and almost didn't do it for fear of burning down our rental house! But I did it, and it really wasn't that bad. It was fun!

So here is how it went.

Browning the bacon after it had been boiled to remove the excess salt and smokiness.

Waiting to be braised.

A bigger Le Crueset pot is on my wish list. But this worked OK.

Adding the bacon before covering and cooking for 10 minutes.

Blanched Pearl onions.  (Cook the onions in boiling water for 1 minute then place in cold water.)
This was the first time I had done this and it worked so well for peeling that I will
continue to do this from here on out when working with Pearl onions.

Perfect

Browned in olive oil and then simmered in a water bath.

Browned in olive oil and butter.

The chicken after cooking in the wine mixture for 30 minutes and the mushrooms.

3 Tbsp flour and 2 Tbsp butter, mashed together to create a paste of sorts. I then added some of the wine
mixture to it and whisked it together so that it was more of a liquid before adding it to the reduced wine.

Reducing the wine mixture before adding the flour and butter mixture.

Perfection.
As it is traditionally served over egg noodles that it what we ate it with.
The one thing my boyfriend and I agreed on was that it needed a tad more pepper but was otherwise a wonderful dish.
I am planning on serving the leftovers with potatoes tomorrow evening.

This was a fun dish to make and surprisingly simple. I will make this again. The only thing I will do different is have the mushrooms and the onions prepped a bit earlier. Those 30 minutes that the chicken cooks go by really fast. I think it would be easier to make sure they all finish cooking about the same time if they were prepped and ready beforehand. Oh, and the gravy is amazing.... Give it a try! :)


Bon appetit.

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