Coq Au Vin

I've been wanting to make this recipe forever. When John got me my dutch oven at Christmas I finally had an excuse to make it it. There are a TON of recipes out there for Coq Au Vin. Some braise the dish in the oven, some in a large skillet, crockpot or a dutch oven. I wanted a one pot stove version. I ended up combining this recipe with the one from Betty Crocker Bridal Edition Cookbook. I also added celery, which some recipes out there have (neither of mine did) and I took out mushrooms as a personal preference.

Coq Au Vin

3lb cut up whole chicken (I halved the breasts)
1/2 cup flour for dredging chicken
salt & pepper
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 yellow onion - diced (other recipes use 1 lb of pearl onions which I couldn't find)
3 Tbsp butter
3 cups mushrooms (I omitted)
2 celery stalks (diced - optional)
2 Tbsp cognac/brandy
1 cup chicken broth
1 750ml bottle of red wine (others ask for less, but I felt it made enough sauce. I think less would not give you enough sauce)
4 medium carrots - roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic - minced
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf

1. In a shallow dish mix flour, salt & pepper. Coat chicken.
2. In a dutch oven cook bacon until crisp. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels; set aside. Cook chicken in bacon fat until brown on all sides - about 10 minutes. Add a bit of butter to the pan if you need to between batches. Remove pieces and set aside.
3. Melt butter, add garlic, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and celery to pan. Cook until slightly tender.
4. Add cognac and simmer until liquid is almost gone. Raise heat to high and then add wine, bay leaf and thyme. Bring to a boil and let wine reduce to about half.
5. Stir in the bacon and chicken broth. Return to a boil.
6. Add the chicken pieces to the pot, cover and let simmer for about 35 minutes or until chicken is done.
7. Remove thyme sprigs, bay leaf and serve over buttered egg noodles.

This recipe turned out SO GOOD. It was absolutely delicious and totally worth the work. I say work only because I had to sit down every now and then and not be able to stand over the stove. Here it is about to be covered:



Yes, I realize it doesn't look great. This is another one of those recipes that doesn't photograph well.

Here's the completed pot of goodness. The wine cooks down into a thick sauce. I'd call it gravy, but it's almost like a cream sauce that you put over the noodles - except there's no cream.



Plated up and ready to go:



You can also make this in a slow cooker. You'd still need to brown the chicken. That part is important. Betty says not to cook the mushrooms in the crockpot (I guess they may get too mushy?). Cook everything else on low for 4-6 hours. Stir in mushrooms and increase heat setting to high. Cover and cook for another 30 minutes.