Coq au Vin

(serves 6)
for the braise:
12 bone in chicken thighs,
trimmed of fat
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 carrots, roughly chopped
1 parsnip, roughly chopped
2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
C. dried porcinis (optional)
2 bay leaves
2 Tbl. tomato paste
2 C. red wine
4 C. chicken stock
thyme, rosemary
4 garlic cloves
for the garnish:
1 lb. assorted wild and button
mushrooms, quartered
lb. slab bacon: 2-1/2 inch
slices cut of and used in the
cooking and the rest cut into
slices
18 cippolini onions, or 36 pearl
onion
olive oil
salt and pepper to season
Heat the oven to 400 F.
Cut the unpeeled cippolini onions in quarters, or just leave the pearl
onions whole. Toss them in a bowl with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
Roast them for about 15 minutes until tender and browning a bit. Let
cool, the skins should peel right of. Set aside
Turn down the oven to 300 F.
Browning the meat:
Heat 2 Tbl. olive oil over medium-high heat in your braising pan. When
you know it is hot, but before it starts to smoke, add the chicken, leaving
space between the pieces so it will brown and not steam. Salt and pepper.
Turn the pieces when the frst side is nice and brown, about 5 minutes.
When both sides are brown, put the browned chicken aside and repeat
with the remaining pieces, adding oil to the pan if needed, making sure it
is hot before adding the chicken. Do not crowd the pan, this may take a
few times to fnish the browning process. Set the chicken aside.
Sauting the aromatics:
Discard any oil remaining from the chicken cooking. Heat chicken pan,
medium heat and add 1 Tbl. olive oil. Add in the sliced bacon, onion,
carrots, parsnips, celery and optional dried porcinis and cook until soft.
Add the garlic and cook another 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and
cook a bit, stirring to incorporate as best you can. Add the red wine and
stir up all the browned bits. Reduce the red wine for a few minutes. Add
in the chicken stock, the bay leaves and the thyme and rosemary. Salt
and pepper. Bring to a boil then put a lid on and put in the oven at 300
degrees. While the chicken is cooking start to prep the garnish. Heat a
large saut pan, adding in a Tbl. of olive oil. Add the bacon and saut
until crispy. Put aside. In the same pan, add in a bit more olive oil and
saut the mushrooms until brown. Make sure you get the pan hot before
adding the mushrooms so they brown, not steam. Once brown, add in
the peeled roasted onions and saut together. Add the bacon. Set aside.
Once the chicken is cooked (check after about an hour or so, it should
fall apart when you try and grab it with tongs), remove the chicken from
the sauce and vegetables. Reduce the sauce by about 1/3 to thicken it
and consolidate the favors. Test the seasonings. Strain the sauce. Put
the chicken, the strained sauce, the garnish all together in the cooking
pot and reheat.
Best served over egg noodles.
(Alternatively this can be cooked in a slow cooker for 5-6 hours on low).