WCC13:The Girl and the Fig's Coq Au Vin

Whew. This is a very long recipe with lots of ingredients and images, so hang in there! I did indeed make this from my newest cookbook, The Girl and the Fig Cookbook, for Weekend Cookbook Challenge 13. Wherein, you make a recipe out of your newest cookbook.

I also wanted to mention the interestingness (not a word — I know!) of using cocoa powder and cinnamon in the sauce — almost like a mole. I think it worked really well and gave the coq au vin a lot of complexity. Oh, and this is a two-bottle of wine recipe. In fact, you’ll be about 1/4 cup short of wine at the end — no biggie — just use what you have left.

For the chicken, instead of the legs and thighs combination listed in the recipe, I used 4 legs and 2 breasts, both with bones and skin. The breasts worked out very well.

Okay, I’ll just get to it then…

Coq Au Vin
Marinade:
1 1/2 cups red wine
3 sprigs parsley
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp soy sauce
6 chicken legs
2 chicken breasts (or 6 thighs)

Braise:
1 carrot, peeled and roughly diced
1 onion, diced
4 ribs celery, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
6-8 black peppercorns
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 cups red wine
4 thyme sprigs
4 parsley sprigs
6 cups chicken stock

Saute:
1 1/2 cups flour
salt & pepper
4 oz pancetta, diced (the original called for double this amount)
16 oz button mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned and quartered
2 carrots, diced (I added this)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp cognac (I used Calvados because that’s what I had)
2 cups red wine (or the rest of your 2nd bottle which will be about a cup and a half)
20 pearl onions, blanched and peeled or defrosted if using frozen

For serving
Buttered noodles with parsley

Okay. Make the marinade. Put the red wine, parsley, garlic, oil, salt,bay leaves and soy sauce in a zip lock bag. Add the chicken and marinade for at least 24 hours. You can also, of course, do this in a big bowl.

To make the braise, saute the carrot, onion, and celery in the oil until the onion is lightly browned and soft.

Add the peppercorns and tomato paste and cook until soft. Next, add the cocoa powder and cinnamon.

Stir and then deglaze the pan with the wine. Reduce by half and then add the parsley, thyme and bay leaves. Simmer one hour and then strain.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry. Discard the marinade. Combine the flour with a little salt and pepper and dredge the chicken pieces in it. Set aside.

Cook the pancetta until crisp in a big, ovenproof skillet. Keep the fat in the pan but remove the cooked pancetta.

Saute the mushrooms and carrots next until well browned. Remove. Add a little oil to the pan if needed and brown the chicken next. About 5 minutes per side.

Deglaze the pan with the cognac and then the remaining red wine. Reduce the liquid by half. Add the strained chicken stock/red wine mixture, the mushrooms, carrots, onions and place the pan in the oven for 30 minutes.

Oh, you can also add the pancetta back in or leave it out and serve it all crispy on the side. Since I was using breasts, which are much bigger than legs and thighs, I removed and flipped chicken over and and gave it another 30 minutes just for fun.

Remove the chicken and keep it warm, and reduce the wine sauce by a third. Serve chicken and sauce over noodles.

Thank again to Sara at Weekend Cookbook Challenge!