Thursday, August 13, 2009

Coq (f)au(x) Vin - the recipe that would make Julia Child roll over in her grave

Please, for the love of all things authentic, go here and make the original recipe that I based this off of.
Saturday morning I had the privilege of accompanying my mom, sister, and mother-in-law to the movie theater to see Julie & Julia. If you haven't seen it, GO! It was such a cute and fun movie. And it gave me a hankering to try my hand at something French. Lo and behold, The Pioneer Woman chose that time to post her Coq au Vin recipe. We had family in town for over a week and had a ton of leftover ingredients that mostly resembled the ingredients needed in this recipe. I can imagine that the real thing is mounds better than my pitiful copy, but my copy was so good it is worth posting.
So, if you feel so inspired, here's my easy pantry version:

Alicia's Coq (f)au(x) Vin
4 strips of bacon, chopped
3 chicken breasts, salt both sides
1/2 white onion, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 cups red wine (I used Cabernet Sauvignon)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, cook bacon until the fat is rendered, but before it is crispy, in a large skillet over medium heat. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon leaving the fat in the skillet. Brown the chicken over medium-high heat in the bacon fat. Cook on each side approximately 3 minutes or until golden brown on each side, but not cooked through. Remove the chicken, and keep warm. To the skillet, add the onion, carrot, and garlic, and cook until translucent (approx. 4 minutes). Remove veggies with a slotted spoon, and drain the remaining fat from the pan. Return the pan to the heat, and add the butter. As soon as it melts, whisk in the flour stirring until golden brown. Slowly pour in the wine whisking constantly. Simmer over medium heat until thickened slightly (approx. 4-5 minutes) stirring frequently and scraping the bottom of the pan to incorporate the brown bits left from the chicken and veggies. Return the chicken to the pan with the sauce, and turn to coat.
Butter or grease a 2-quart baking dish. Spread half of the veggies and bacon in the bottom, top with the chicken, then sprinkle the rest of the veggies and bacon on top. Pour the remaining sauce over the dish. Bake, covered with foil, for 1 hour 15 minutes. Prepare to be overcome. =)
I served mine with buttered, grilled rolls. The Pioneer Woman suggests serving alongside buttered noodles, but we preferred the bread to slop up the extra sauce.

1 comment:

Brandon and Jenny said...

Oh my gosh! That looks so yummy and sinful! A good company dish.

If I have company that can't eat flour, do you have any suggestions for the sauce? Could I use corn starch and just make a different kind of sauce?

And, we can get all of those ingredients here! We will just hide the wine. :)