Country-Style Coq Au Vin

This is not Croatian or my own recipe. It is French ecipe. I cooked this meal today and I took the recipe from “New concise Larousse Gastronomique”. It is in fact gastronomic encyclopedia with some recipes. I have changed the recipe a bit because I could not find cockerel blood to thicken the meal at the end. “Bouqet garni” mention in the recipe consists of bay leaf, thyme, parsley, rosemary, sage and cloves. I have done the recipe with chicken not cockerel but it was great; everyone else thought so. This is how I did it.

• Ready In: 1 hr 50 mins
• Serves: 4
• Yields: 4 portions

Ingredients

• 700  g chicken (pieces, legs and wings)
• 10  g salt
• 3  g pepper
• 100  g bacon (lean bacon)
• 50  g butter
• 1  tablespoon olive oil
• 200  g onions (pearl onion if possible)
• 3  tablespoons cognac
• 400  ml wine (red, dry)
• 150  g mushrooms (white button mushroom)
• 25  g butter
• 50  g butter
• 1  tablespoon flour
• 1  bay leaf
• 1⁄4 teaspoon thyme (dried)
• 1  tablespoon fresh parsley leaves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon rosemary (fresh)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon clove (or two cloves)
• 2  garlic cloves

Directions

1. Cut chicken meat into 5-6 cm pieces and season well.
2. Peal onion and mince it. Cut bacon into small slices.
3. Melt 50 g butter and 1 tablespoon oil in casserole. Add the bacon and onion and fry until golden. Remove and drain thoroughly.
4. Brown the pieces of chicken (cockerel) in the fat in the casserole, turning them over several times. Return the bacon and onion to the casserole.
5. Heat the Cognac, pour into casserole and ignite. Beware of the flame! Pour 400 ml red wine into casserole, a “bouquet garni” (parsley, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme and cloves) and two crushed garlic cloves. Bring slowly to the boil, cover and simmer for 60 minutes.
6. In the meantime: Thinly slice 150 g mushrooms. Fry them in 25 g butter for 15 minutes and add to the casserole. Continue cooking for another 20-25 minutes.
7. Few minutes before serving, cream 50 g butter with 1 tablespoon flour. Gradually stir in a little cooking liquid from the casserole, and then pour the mixture slowly into the casserole.
8. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, than (this is optional) add 3 tablespoons of cockerel blood and allow to thicken, without boiling, for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Serve with potatoes or pasta.