By: Michael Sarko | April 19 2011
Posted in Seattle - Cook It - Seattle

Coq au Vin with field vegetables and mashed potatoes in a red wine reduction with bacon-topped salad and Pinot Noir. Photo by: Michael Sarko

Do you eschew cooking French dishes at home because the recipes look too complicated or require hard-to-locate specialty ingredients? Most Parisian recipes actually come from a long history of provincial cooking, and use a variety of easy-to-find, in-season produce and commonly found cuts of meat, fish, and poultry. A perfect example of this is Coq au Vin.

Literally meaning “rooster in wine”, Coq au Vin is a flavorful delicacy from the French countryside. Modern cooks don't need to procur an actual rooster for the dish, as substituting a chicken will create the same authentically down-home taste in your own kitchen. Thanks to the region's bounty of small farms and the rising prevalence of its wine country, it's easy to find what you need to make a locally-sourced Coq au Vin in the Pacific Northwest.

To start, you'll definitely want to grab a bottle of Pinot Noir from any vineyard in the Willamette Valley. The region has a nice blend of mild weather, volcanic soil, and light rainfall to make some truly excellent wine. The full bodied notes of a Pinot will enhance the deep flavors in this stew.

Next, head down to your favorite farmer's market and pick up the following:

3-4 large carrots

1 large yellow onion or several pearl onions

garlic

bay leaf

thyme

chicken stock

butter

flour

Crimini mushrooms

Make sure to check out The Local Dish's picks for Seattle's best local butchers to purchase a fresh, humanely raised chicken. While you're there, you'll also want to get a half a pound of good bacon. You can also ask your butcher to divide your chicken into eighths to save yourself some prep time.  If you prefer to cut it up at home yourself, see the video below for simple instructions.

 

In order to get the most flavorful dish, you'll want to marinate your chicken overnight - so plan your dinner in advance! Place the legs, thighs, and wings in a zip-top bag along with half the bottle of wine and a liberal dash of salt and pepper. Shake the bag and place in the refrigerator for about 24 hours.

Once your chicken is ready, start prepping the dish by chopping all the vegetables roughly. Then place your bacon in a sauce pan with a few inches of cold water and slowly boil for 5 minutes. This will remove some of the salt to protect the flavor of the final dish. When the bacon is blanched and rinsed, render it in a heavy pan with tall sides or a dutch oven, and use the drippings to brown all chicken pieces for five minutes on both sides.

While browning the chicken, preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Add 1 to 1.5 cups of chicken stock, all of the marinating wine, the bay leaf and thyme, and all of the vegetables. Cover the pan and place it in the oven for no less than two hours (you'll know it's done when the chicken separates easily from the bone).

To finish the dish with a delectable sauce, remove the solids from the pan and bring the liquid to a low boil. Wait until it is roughly 1/3 its original volume, and then thicken with equal parts butter and flour (added 1 tablespoon at a time), whisking lightly but consistently for several minutes. Once the liquid is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, return it to the chicken and vegetables. Though the sauce sounds incredibly rich, it will coat the chicken just so for an amazingly delicious meal, and provide the perfect complement to your veggie and potato sides.

You can also use the rendered bacon as a crumbly topping for a fresh salad to go along with your meal. The comination of salty bacon with crisp, fresh lettuce makes for a crunchy taste sensation. Serve your Coq au Vin along with the same variety of wine in which it was cooked and enjoy this remarkable French delicacy for a homemade taste of Paris in Seattle!

Rendevous in the city with other scrumptious French meals: 

Seattle's Best French Eats: Crepes

Seattle's Best French Eats: Cuisine Francaise

< Prev		Next >