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Coq Au Vin
It’s been a long time since I’ve prepared this classic chicken stew. I’ve taken some liberties with the recipe made famous by Julia Child.
Fry some bacon until crisp and set aside on a paper towel. Dredge some chicken parts in seasoned flour and brown them well in the bacon fat. Bone in thighs are perfect for this but you can use whatever. Set the browned chicken pieces aside on a plate. Drain most of the fat and pour in a cup of red wine to deglaze. Add back the bacon and the browned chicken. Stir in a cup and a half to two cups of beef or chicken broth – I use beef most often but chicken broth will work fine. Add some carrot pieces and a coarsely diced onion. Pearl onions work great for this but aren’t absolutely required. Add canned mushrooms if you have them, fresh mushrooms are great but they need to be cooked down earlier if fresh – between the bacon and the chicken browning.
After the broth and veggies are added bring it all to a simmer and then reduce heat to low and cover. It should take about 45 more minutes to cook through, turn the chicken over halfway and give it a stir.
I like to serve this with a wild rice mix. Noodles or potatoes will work as well.
Thursday Recipe Exchange: Braised Italian Chicken
Happy Thursday. I don’t know about you, but I could have used the weekend two days ago, it’s been that kind of week. Let’s get right to tonight’s ingredients: chicken and vegetables. This was really just my excuse to be able to test drive a recipe I’ve been thinking about for a while. I came across a recipe for an Italian braised chicken in a white wine sauce served over pasta and my first thought was, I wonder if you could do that with a traditional red sauce? I love chicken cacciatore, but the texture of the chicken leaves a lot to be desired. I could go with a traditional chicken parmesan, but that isn’t quite the same, the meat isn’t permeated with sauce flavor in the same way. This recipe gave me just what I was looking for, a nice textured chicken packed with flavor.
In case Italian chicken isn’t a favorite, I posted two other chicken recipes this week: Barbecue Chicken with Spinach and Grilled Lime Chicken. Next week: I’m taking requests. What would you like?
Now for tonight’s recipe:
Braised Italian Chicken
- 8 bone-in chicken thighs, skin on
- Olive oil
- Flour
- Dried: basil, oregano, rosemary, cayenne pepper, pepper, salt, thyme
Sauce:
- 6-8 green onions, chopped
- 1 small zucchini cubed
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 4-6 button mushrooms, washed and sliced
- 2 tsp crushed garlic or equivalent
- 1/2 cup good red wine
- 6 oz can of tomato paste
- 14 oz can of diced tomatoes or equivalent (I use unsalted)
- 2-15oz cans of tomato sauce (again, I use unsalted)
- 2 tsp dried basil (or fresh equivalent)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (opt)
- Pinch of rosemary
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 10-16 oz of favorite pasta (I like angel hair with this dish)
Bowl, Saucepan, Skillet, Baking dish or Dutch oven
In a bowl, mix together about 2 cups of flour and a good amount of the spices. Wash and dry thighs. Dredge in flour and fry in large skillet in about 1/2 cup of olive oil (I start with skin side down and do not touch it until it moves easily when I nudge it with a fork, then I flip it). When browned on both sides, remove to a plate with paper towels to drain a bit. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and add diced vegetables, cook until the onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook for another minute, then add wine, stirring to deglaze the pan. Add remaining ingredients, stirring to mix well. Let simmer, covered, on the stovetop while chicken browns.
In baking dish, add enough sauce to come 1/2 way up the side of the baking dish. Nestle chicken in the baking dish, skin side up. Now here is the important part, ladle additional sauce AROUND the chicken as needed, but DO NOT cover the top. Leave enough room for the browned top of the chicken to remain above the sauce. This lets it braise and the skin still stay crispy. Bake, UNCOVERED, for 1 hour and 30 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, check to make sure the sauce is barely bubbling, if it is boiling, reduce heat to 300 degrees. Chicken is done when it gives easily, but not falling off the bone.
Leave remaining sauce on the stove to simmer on low while the chicken cooks, you’ll probably want extra for the pasta. Prepare pasta just before chicken is done. Serve with salad or green beans and a nice deep red wine.
Prep time is a lot on this meal, so I suggest it for weekends or special guests. I also doubled the sauce and froze 1/2 for another meal.
Tonight we also get a glossary: What is braising? What is deglazing?
Beef cooked in red wine
Thawed a beef roast today thinking it would make a good batch of Italian beef and got sidetracked when I browsed into this recipe. That looked even better so I texted Mrs J and asked her to stop for the fresh mushrooms and carrots and a bag of frozen pearl onions.
I stayed pretty close to the recipe, subbing bacon for the pancetta. I used a Merlot wine that was gathering dust in a cabinet and it seemed to work just fine.
Enjoy!
Oxtail Stew
We did this a few days ago. I saw a chef do about this same thing on a late night, odd satellite channel. We were at the grocery store last week and found some oxtails at the meat counter. I grabbed some just because the dish cooked on that TV show appealed to me. I did a Google search for oxtail recipes and settled on one that had me braising them in a red wine sauce that seemed to be very close in spirit to the beef bourguignon I did a while back.
Start by reducing a bottle of red wine by about half in a sauce pan. As the wine simmers, brown the oxtails on all sides in butter and olive oil. Set the browned pieces aside in a bowl and sweat down some veggies that have been coarsely chopped-onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and leeks and shallots if you have them. I did without those last two.
Layer the meat atop the veggies and pour in the wine reduction, then add beef broth to just cover. Toss in a few bay leaves and some thyme. Bring the pot to a boil and then cover and put it into a 325 oven for 3 hours or so. You want the meat tender but you’ll want to serve it with the meat still on the bone. Remove the meat to a bowl and keep warm, pour the liquid through a sieve, discard the solids, skim the fat, and reduce it to a cup or two. You make the call of how thick you want the sauce to be. Add some cornstarch to thicken if you want.
I served the oxtails with some roasted potatoes and a nice little salad.
Enjoy!
