French Chicken in Red Wine Sauce with Mushrooms
Coq au Vin
As Nathalie Petersen from Paris, France, taught Lindsay Sterling in Cape Elizabeth, ME, 2014
Serves 6-8
Cooking time: 2 hours
6-8 chicken drumsticks or whole chicken cut into pieces
1 Tbsp oil
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, smashed with skin on
bouquet guarni (1 bunch sage + 1 bunch thyme, tied together with twine)
1-2 Tbsp flour
1 bottle red wine, preferably Burgundy
7 oz. white pearl onions, peeled (can buy pre-peeled and frozen)
2 Tbsp butter
12 oz. bacon, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
12 oz. button mushrooms, washed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
In a dutch oven on medium heat brown chicken pieces in 1 Tbsp oil. When chicken is golden brown on all sides, add chopped yellow onion, bouquet guarni, and garlic and turn to low. Stir in 2 Tbsp flour, then add one bottle of red wine. Cook on low for 2-3 hours, covered but open a crack. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper.
In medium saute pan on medium heat, melt 2 Tbsp butter. Add pearl onions and 1/2 tsp sugar and saute long enough to caramelize or turn the onions a nice golden brown color. Add bacon pieces. Saute for about 5 minutes, then add mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms are soft and juicy.
Remove bouquet garnis and garlic cloves from the chicken-in-wine. Mix mushroom-onion-bacon mixture into the chicken and red wine sauce. Serve coq au vin with roasted or mashed potatoes.
Copyright Lindsay Sterling 2014
