Last Night's Dinner #32: Coq Au Vin inspired Braised Chicken

Coq Au Vin inspired Braised Chicken
Prep Time: 30 mins.
Cook Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: Medium

As you know, Top Chef is one of my favorite shows and last week Casey inspired me to attempt Coq Au Vin. I will not, however, make the same mistake she did and call mine Coq Au Vin since I'm using good ol' chicken as opposed to an old rooster. There are millions of recipes out there (see links below) for this traditional French dish and I didn't really follow just one. I modified and modified like I'm sure you will. Since this is the first time I made this, I don't exactly have a recipe that I can share since I completely winged it - adding a little bit of this a little bit of that. So, the next time I make this, I'll definitely share the recipe.

I had to be mentally prepared to make this dish because like all things French, it was a little intimidating at first (requiring 10-12 hours - you have to let the chicken sit in wine overnight and then slowly cook it for 2 hours) but if you prepare properly, it really isn't that bad. Now that the ordeal is over, I can truly say that it was surprisingly easy.


Marinate chicken in wine and herbs overnight


Caramelize cipollinis (water, butter, pinch of salt and sugar)





I also made some fluffly whipped potatoes to serve as a side dish. I wish I had a loaf of French bread to sop up the sauce!



Next time I'll use less tomato paste and use Côtes du Rhône (a fuller bodied wine). Other than that it was perfect, you could really taste the wine and flavors in the chicken. It's definitely a dish worth perfecting! So get yourself mentally prepared and give it a shot.

Here are some of the recipes that I referenced:
cuisine-france.com
leitesculinaria.com
bravotv.com
marthastewart.com