Coq Au Vin - Family Sunday Lunch part 1

A few days ago I wrote in my blog about the elaborate Sunday lunches where the entire family meets to indulge in great home cooked food. Not to forget to indulge in the latest family gossip too.

Most of the times you have at least a 3 course meal on these occasions with the main course being a meat based dish. To make it easier I will split up the different courses into different blogs and start off with the main course. All recipes are for at least 8 people.

I call this elaborate as you have to start either early in the morning or even better the evening before and it is prepared in several steps even though the preparation itself is very easy. Here my version of Coq au Vin. Regarding the wine you use for the cooking, I suggest you serve the same on Sunday afternoon with lunch. If you don't have enough bottles of the same wine stick at least to red wine served with the Coq au Vin.

And as the general rule of good ingredients make a good dish applies here too so do not use a low quality wine for it. You will taste and regret it in the end. Originally this recipe is from Burgundy and is therefore made with a wine from the same area. I know from own experience that Burgundy wine is sometimes difficult to get, at least when you live outside of Europe. I usually use a good Cabernet Sauvignon, a Merlot or a Malbec for it. They are available almost anywhere in the world.

For the marinade I take 1 1/2 bottles of good red wine (the rest half bottle you can enjoy while you are cooking. That's what I usually do) , 1 big onion cut into quarters, 3 garlic cloves crushed, 70g carrot and 50g celery both cut into 2cm pieces, the peel of half orange, 6 juniper berries crushed, 3 cloves, 1 star anise, 3 tablespoons sour cherry jam (you can also use cranberry or red currant jam instead), 25 black pepper corns crushed and 2 bay leaves. I put all in a pot and boil it over low heat until it is reduced by 1/3. Than I turn off the heat and let it cool down.

While the marinade is cooling down I take 3 medium size chicken (each about 1kg). I always buy chicken that still has the skin. It adds additional flavour to the dish.

Now cut off the legs from the chicken. Here fore I take a very sharp knife and cut the skin and meat around the joint to get good access to the joint. Than I cut through the joint. It separates almost by itself. The same way I separate the Thigh from the lower leg and cut off the wings. Now I remove the chicken breast. Here fore I run the knife along the the breastbone, from there I cut down to the ribs and than remove the meat from the ribs. For this recipe I use only the legs and breasts. The rest I keep aside to cook chicken stock out of it.

Once the marinade is cooled strain it through a fine sieve to remove all the solid parts.

To marinade the chicken I put the 6 chicken legs (thigh & lower legs) and the 6 chicken breasts into an airtight container, add the marinade to it, close the lit and give it a good shake to ensure that all chicken parts are well covered with the marinade. Now I let it stand in the fridge for at least 4 hours, best over night.

The next day morning I take 200g bacon and cut it in small dices. I peel 25 pearl onions and take 25 button mushrooms. If you can't find small button mushrooms you can also take about 350-400g or regular mushrooms and cut them in halves or quarters.

I take the chicken out of the marinade but keep the marinade separate, it will be used later. I now dust the chicken with 3-4 tablespoons of flour so that it is evenly coated.

I put a big pot on the stove and heat it up. Now I cook the bacon in the pot t release the fat. Once the bacon is brown and cross I remove it from the pot and add 2-3 tablespoons olive oil to it. In this I first fry the onions until they start turning brown. I take the onions out of the pot and keep them aside while I fry the chicken that it is golden brown from all sides. I also set the chicken aside. It is recommendable to fry the chicken in 3-4 batches depending on the width of the pot. Last but not least I stir-fry the mushrooms in the oil. Once the mushrooms start turning dark I remove them from the pot.

I now reduce the heat and add the marinade to the oil. I stir it well to loosen all the flavours that might have stuck to the bottom of the pot while frying. It is now time to start layering the fried ingredients in the pot. First the chicken, than the bacon, onions and on top the mushrooms. I add 1 teaspoon salt and enough chicken stock to it to cover all ingredients. Put a lit on it and cook it at low heat for about 2 hours. Before serving season with salt and pepper to taste.

On the side I serve mashed potatoes and a mixed salad with maple syrup dressing.

For the mashed potatoes I cook 10 big potatoes until they are soft. I let them cool slightly than peel them and put them in a big pot where I mash them with a potato masher or a fork. Do not use your mixer or blender for this as it will release too much of starch from the potatoes and you end up with a paste that is more like clue than mashed potatoes. To the potatoes I add 100g salted butter and about 300-350ml milk, stir it well and reheat it over a low flame.

The quantity for the butter and milk is flexible. If you are more figure conscious leave the butter but add more milk to it. If you like it richer add more butter. If you like a smoother mash add more milk to it. Add salt to your own taste.

For the salad dressing I take 3 tablespoons cold pressed sesame oil, 4-5 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 4-5 tablespoons warm water, 1 ½ teaspoons mustard, 2 tablespoons maple syrup and pepper and salt to taste. I mix all the ingredients well and add it to a bowl filled with 1 sliced cucumber, 1 1/2 bell pepper cut in quarters and than in slices (I prefer red or yellow bell peppers for salad), 1 onion cut in fine dices, 1 iceberg lettuce cut into bite size pieces. Give it all a good toss and let it stand for 10 minutes before you serve it.

Place it all at the centre of the table and have a feast with your family, framily or friends.

Enjoy and have fun cooking!

Love

Carola

PS.: If you don't like bacon you can replace it with a good juicy turkey ham. In this case heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil before you start frying the ingredients.