Coq au Vin, Simplified (Chicken in Wine)

Coq au Vin  
= rooster in wine  
= chicken stewed in red wine  



According to Wikipedia, Coq au Vin is a French braise of chicken cooked with wine, lardons (pork fat), mushrooms, and optionally garlic.

This is a rich, hearty, warming dish. Sorta like a stew, sorta like a casserole. It may even be sorta like a chicken bourguignon. You get the drift... 

I'm not good with descriptions... but I'll try...
This dish is full of rich red wine flavour without the hangover, and an intense sweetness from the bacon and onions that enhances the tender bite of the chicken. 

You can serve it with mashed potatoes, pasta, or just plain ol' rice.
I chose to serve it with some brown rice mixed with jasmine rice. 


COQ AU VIN
Serves 2. 

100g bacon (about 4 rashes)
1/2 yellow onion, sliced or roughly chopped according to preference
2 chicken drumsticks, skin on
3 garlic cloves
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 tsp thyme
100g mushrooms

salt & pepper to taste

Start by browning the bacon. This will take a few minutes. 

Once they're nicely browned and crisp, set aside. 

Throw in all the onions and saute for a while. 

It's ok if your pot is full of caramelised goodness (that brown burnt-looking stuff on your pan). It's good stuff and will add a rich flavour to the dish. 

Don't worry, when you add the wine later, the brown stuff will be miraculously lifted away from the pan and dissolved in the stew. 

Now place the chicken skin side down in the pot. 

After a few minutes, when the skin side has browned, turn the chicken pieces to brown the naked side. 

While the naked side is browning, add the garlic, thyme and pepper.

When it feels like the naked side has browned, add the red wine and chicken stock...

... and a nice big bay leaf. 

Throw the crispy bacon back into the pot, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes till the chicken in tender. 

In the meantime, clean the mushrooms and chop it into nice chunky quarters. 

When the 20 minutes is up, dump the mushrooms into the pot and turn the heat up. Reduce the liquid till its thick and saucy.

Taste to see if more salt and pepper are needed. 

Serve with mashed potatoes, pasta or rice. 

This is my version of a simplified Coq au Vin.
If you want more flavour, you can add veges like carrots and celery.

Here are a couple of links to Coq au Vin recipes by Julia Child and Alton Brown.

Julia Child's Coq au Vin
Alton Brown's Coq au Vin 


Now, what else can I cook with the remaining bottle of wine??