coq au vin

This delicious recipe is from Bonnie Stern’ Heartsmart Cooking for Family and Friends. A good friend of mine recently told me that he needed to start watching his cholesterol, so a neighbour loaned me this cookbook full of heart-friendly recipes.  Any cookbook with coq au vin is worth giving a second look, especially one that tastes this good.  I served this with a baguette and a spinach and mushroom salad.  This dish made some amazing leftovers!

Sadly, I broke this beautiful blue antique bowl before I could use it again, so this is the first and last recipe I get to use it for.

What you need:

• 1.5 kg chicken pieces (thighs work very nicely)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 slices bacon
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 12 pearl onions or shallots (or 1/2 an onion)
• 12 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 lb mushrooms – wild if you can get them
• 2 large carrots sliced diagonally into 2 cm slices
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 cup homemade chicken or beef stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons fresh tarragon
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley

What you do:

1. Rinse chicken and pat it dry.  Combine flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish and coat the chicken with this mixture.
2. Cook the bacon in a large skillet, then remove it from the pan onto a paper towel to absorb the fat.  Cook the chicken in the bacon fat (or olive oil if you choose not to use the bacon.) Sprinkle on the brandy and let it cook for a minute.  Remove the chicken from the pan.
3. Add the onions, garlic, mushrooms and carrots to the pan and let them brown for about 8 minutes. Add the wine and bring to a boil.  Add the stock, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary and tarragon.  Add the chicken to the pan and bring to a boil.  Cook on low heat for about 45 minutes, with a lid on the pan.
4. Discard the bay leaf, then remove the chicken and vegetables from the pan and keep it warm.
5. Bring the pan juices to a simmer and cook uncovered until thickened.  Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables and sprinkle with parsley.
6. Serve over mashed potatoes or with a crusty baguette to soak up the juices.