Easy Coq Au Vin
Easy Coq Au Vin is my take on a delicious French classic. Originally a slow braised casserole type dish using a Cockerel which took an age to become tender. In mu youth Mother cooked many Cockerels in our stew pot ( No such thing as red wine though we even use water instead of stock) and as I remember it was cooking the whole day. Instead of using chicken quarters, I used chicken (not cockerel’s) thighs and divided them into bite-size pieces, thus reducing the cooking time. It can be served with any vegetable you wish, I just used what I had to hand.
You can also watch my video by clicking the photo below
Easy Coq Au Vin
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Ingredients
- 600 g chicken thighs skin on, but you use whatever you wish
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 180 ml red wine
- 200 ml chicken stock fresh, carton or from a cube is fine
- 2 bay leaves fresh if possible
- 2 cloves garlic optional
- 3 sprigs thyme if using dried 1/2 teaspoon
- Salt and pepper
- 90 g Bacon chopped smoked, but I prefer unsmoked
- 100 g mushrooms roughly chopped
DISCLAIMER
I recommend using the Metric measurements (instead of cups & spoons) for more accuracy and better results.
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large heavy pan or casserole dish and gently cook the onions until soft and translucent, do not brown them. If you add a tablespoon of water to the pan this will help prevent the onions browning. This should take you about 3- 4 minutes.
- Now add the chicken pieces and the chopped garlic, turn up the heat slightly and cook for around 4 minutes or until the chicken has lost it’s pink colour, remember, we are not actually cooking it through just yet.
- Now this is where we add the liquids, the wine and the stock together with the herbs (Bay leaves & Thyme). Bring the pot to the boil then turn down to a simmer and cover with a tight fitting lid.
- In a separate pan, fry the bacon on a reasonably high heat until the fat starts to render out, probably 1 - 2 minutes then add the mushrooms, cook a further couple of minutes, stirring all the time until the mushroom have taken on some colour.
- Now add the bacon and mushroom into the casserole containing the chicken, give it all a good stir, replace the lid and cook for a further 20 minutes.
- Remove the lid, give it a stir making sure nothing is sticking to the bottom and cook for a further 20 minutes without the lid, this will allow the liquid to reduce and the stew thicken.
- Serve your Coq Au Vin with whatever vegetables you wish, I usually serve mine with either new potatoes or a mustard mash and if in season some delicious tender-stem broccoli.
Category: Chicken, Main Courses, Meat, Recipes, Videos
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