Chicken Au Vin

Hello everybody!

I know that it has been warmer these days but I wanted to make my last comfort food recipe before making spring recipes. I am pretty sure that you must know the recipe of today which is a classic French recipe and also made famous in the US thanks to Julia Child. You must know it under the name: Coq au vin. Well today’s recipe is going to be made easier for you all and I will be using a chicken instead of a rooster. To be honest I have never seen a rooster in Toronto so I am guessing that it must be hard to find and I cannot imagine the price if you do! So let’s make things easy and use a regular chicken.

Coq au vin is sort of a national dish to us as the rooster is one of our emblems. It is said that the tradition of this dish started when Caesar conquered France, called Gaule at the time, and asked for a meal to be made with a rooster, the symbol of the Gaulois (now French). There are different variations of this dish that are made according the regions, using white wine of yellow wine instead. I do love this dish but have to admit that I rarely ate it in France.

Let’s start cooking!

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
110 g diced bacon
1 liter red wine
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
227 g mushrooms
500 g carrots
1 tsp sugar + 1 tsp sugar for the carrots
3 tsp corn starch
1 tbsp butter
1 cup water
salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

1- First, wash your chicken under running water and dry it well. Cut your chicken so you have each pieces separated. I will link a video that will teach you how to cut your chicken from a food blogger and Youtuber that I really like: Maangchi. Her tutorial video was very clear and I had no difficulties to cut my chicken. Please watch the video below for the tutorial:

2- Peel your onion, garlic cloves and the carrots (if you want too, I personally left the skin on the carrots). Cut medium slices of onion and mince the garlic finely. Cut your carrots into thick sticks.

3- Cut the mushrooms into quarters, and reserve everything on the side.

4- In a large pot, cook the bacon until it starts to color. Then add the slices of onion and let everything “sweat” in the grease without burning them. Reserve in a plate on the side.

5- In the remaining fat, cook the chicken for a couple minutes, until it starts to color. Once the chicken is colored, add the bacon and onions on top and cover with wine. Bring to boil and add the salt, pepper, sugar and garlic. Cover with a lid and cook at low heat for 1 h 30.

6- In the mean time, cook the mushrooms in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Cook them until they have a nice color. In an other pan, add the carrots, butter, sugar and a pinch of salt, and add 1 cup of water. Cover with a lid and let cook a low heat until all the water has evaporated. The sugar and butter will give a nice shine to your carrots and also more sweetness.

7- When the chicken is cooked, take off all the pieces off the pot and place them aside. You should have only the sauce left in the pot.

8- In a small bowl, add the corn starch and mix with about 6-7 tablespoons of the sauce. Mix well so there are no clumps. Then pour the mixture into the sauce in the pot. Mix well and bring the sauce to a boil. Cook the sauce until it coats your spoon.

9- Then dress your plates! Add the chicken with the mushrooms and carrots on the side and coat everything with the sauce. You can also add a side of mashed potatoes as it will go well with the sauce.

An easy recipe to make and absolutely delicious! The wine brings so much flavor to the chicken and the bacon add a nice smoky flavor to it. Definitely a recipe to make if you never tried it before!