Coq Au Vin (Chicken With Wine)

GREG IN SAN DIEGO's Note:

This recipe appeared in Cook's Illustrated Magazine. What makes it unique is that, by using boned thigh meat and cooking in two pots, the preparation time for this classic dish is abbreviated to only 90 minutes.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 (350 ml) bottle pinot noir wine
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 10 sprigs fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 ounces bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 2 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut in half crosswise
• table salt & fresh ground pepper
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 24 frozen pearl onions, thawed, drained and patted dry
• 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, wiped clean, stems trimmed and halved if small and quartered inf large
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Note: If using fresh pearl onions, cut the root and stem ends, plunge into boiling water for 1 minute and then shock in ice water. When cool, peel the outer skin.
2. In a large saucepan, place the wine (reserve 1 T.), broth, parsley sprigs, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 25 minutes or until reduced to about 3 cups.
3. While the sauce is simmering, brown the bacon in a Dutch Oven, about 8 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate. Reserve 2 T. fat in a small bowl and discard the rest.
4. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and a little Greek Seasoning.
5. Add 1 T. of the reserved fat to the Dutch oven and heat until just smoking. Add 1/2 the chicken in a single layer and lightly brown for about 2 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a plate and repeat this step with the remaining chicken and fat.
6. Melt 3 T. butter in now-empty Dutch oven over medium heat. When foaming subsides add the onions and mushrooms and cook about 7 minutes until lightly browned. Add garlic, tomato paste and flour and cook about 1 minute.
7. Remove the bay leaf.Add the reduced wine mixture to the Dutch oven, scraping the bottom to loosen the chicken bits and add 1/4 t. pepper.
8. At this point return the chicken and bacon to the Dutch oven and bring to boil over high heat. Then, reduce heat, cover pot and simmer for 25 minutes or until chicken is tender. Stir occasionally.
9. Transfer chicken to large bowl and tent with foil. Increase heat and simmer sauce until thick, about 5 minutes.
10. Remove Dutch oven from heat and stir in 2 T. butter and 1 T. wine. Add a little salt, return chicken to the pot and sprinkle with the minced parsley. Serve immediately over mashed potatoes.

Reviews

[threeovens]

I thought this was terrific. I liked that the sauce was a nice brown color, rather than a purple red wine color. You can make the sauce as thick or as thin as you want depending on how long you reduce it at the end.

[neona503]

this was delicious! i made only a few changes. i omitted the bacon as i don't eat pork and i added a bit of sherry near the end of cooking time. i also decided to just reduce the wine in the dutch oven and cook the chicken in a skillet. then i added the chicken to the wine and cooked the onion, garlic and mushrooms in the chicken fat. at that point i added that to the wine and chicken and then made a quick roux out of the butter and flour and whisked that into the pot and added a bit of tomato paste. i think this simplified the recipe for those not using bacon. i have to say, the way my family and guests devoured this, i don't think anyone missed the bacon! a fantastic coq au vin. i have made quite a few and this was by far the best. my new favorite!