Classic Coq au Vin

While I don’t keep a formal “Kitchen Bucket List,” sometimes I’m surprised there are still things left on this informal mental list. I mean, I cook every single day. How are there still dishes I haven’t tried? I guess that’s the beauty of cooking –  there is always something new to learn and create.

Coq au vin is one of those things that I’ve been meaning to make forever. It sounds fancy, but it’s just a French phrase basically meaning “chicken with wine.” Whenever I see it on a restaurant menu, I immediately order it. It’s soul-warming comfort food at it’s finest. Chicken braised in red wine until it becomes melt-in-your mouth-tender, with pancetta (or bacon), mushrooms, onions and other aromatic veggies.

So what’s held me back this long from making it? The fact that almost every coq au vin recipe calls for two bottles of wine. For some reason, that just sounds daunting / extreme / expensive / excessive for one meal. Enter Gallo Family Vineyards Hearty Burgundy, which is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary in 2014 with a beautiful limited edition bottle. This rich, blended red wine comes in only one size – 1.5 liters. Yep, that really equals two standard-sized bottles of wine, but hey – it’s just one bottle to buy, which makes me feel better about the whole situation. And I actually scaled this recipe down a little bit, so that you can use half the bottle for cooking, and the other half for drinking with your meal.

So, let’s do this. Locate the nearest store that sells Hearty Burgundy and go pick some up. Make coq au vin with half of the wine. Invite some friends over. Serve them a beautiful meal. Toast to your kitchen bucket list success with the rest of the Hearty Burgundy. Repeat as necessary throughout the winter, when comfort food is needed daily. After dinner, be sure to connect with Gallo Family Vineyards on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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Classic Coq au Vin

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

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Ingredients

• 4 ounces pancetta, cut into ¼-inch cubes
• 1 whole frying chicken (about 4 to 4-1/2 pounds), cut into 10 pieces and patted dry
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• 12 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
• 3 large carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 375 mL (1/2 bottle) Gallo Family Vineyards Hearty Burgundy
• 8 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 bag (14 ounces) frozen pearl onions
• Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. In large Dutch oven, cook pancetta over medium-high heat 6 to 8 minutes or until browned. Transfer to bowl with slotted spoon.
2. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. In batches, add chicken, skin side down, to pan and cook 5 minutes or until deep golden brown. Transfer to plate.
3. Add mushrooms to pan; cook 8 to 10 minutes or until browned. Transfer to bowl with pancetta. Add carrots and chopped yellow onion to pan. Cook 5 minutes or until onion is lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and tomato paste; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
4. Add 1 cup of wine to pan; cook 1 minute, scraping bottom of pan with wooden spoon. Add thyme, bay leaf, broth, chicken and remaining wine; heat to boiling. Cover pot with lid and transfer to oven. Cook 40 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
5. Remove from oven; transfer chicken to plate. Strain cooking liquid through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl; discard solids. Put cooking liquid back in pan and place on stove over medium-high heat. In small bowl, mash together flour and butter. Heat cooking liquid to boiling; whisk in flour mixture. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 10 minutes or until thickened, skimming and stirring occasionally. Add pearl onions, pancetta and mushrooms and chicken to pot, simmer 5 minutes or until everything is heated through. Serve garnished with parsley.

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Compensation was provided by Gallo Family Vineyards via Sunday Supper, LLC. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Gallo Family Vineyards. Sponsored posts help me pay for the costs associated with this blog, and help support me as I pursue a career in recipe development and food photography.