from Tatiana's notebook · Meat
Coq au Vin
A classic French chicken recipe packed full of the flavours of red wine, port, spices and vegetables, truly the perfect dish for a cold winter's night.
- Prep
- 45 min
- Cook
- 45 min
- Total
- 4 hours 30 min
Jump to the methodAdded September 2011
Translated literally, Coq au vin means Rooster with wine. As the name implies, the dish was originally made with Rooster rather than the nowadays easier to obtain chicken. Packed with flavour, it tastes absolutely spectacular and as recipes go is a true French classic that is relatively cheap to make.
You'll need
For the Coq au Vin
- 1 - 1.5kg Chicken cut into 8 pieces or 1.5kg Chicken drumsticks and wings
- 250g Bacon sliced
- 10 - 12 French shallots
- 250g Mushrooms quartered
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 litre chicken stock
- 125ml Brandy
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 1/2 tbsp softened butter
- 1 tbsp flour
- Salt, Pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
For the Marinade
- 1 bottle Red wine
- 125ml Port wine
- 1 carrot sliced
- 1 Rosemary sprig
- 1 Onion studded with Cloves
- 2 Bay leaves
- 5 whole peppercorns
For the Beurre Manie
- 20g butter
- 20g flour
Method
Prepare the marinade; put the chicken into a bowl, add the wine, Port, carrots, bay leaves, rosemary, onions, cloves and peppercorns. Cover and leave to marinate for at least three hours but preferably overnight.
After the marinating time has passed, drain the chicken making sure to reserve the marinade, pat dry the chicken. Discard the carrots, bay leaves, rosemary and onions. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper.
Pat dry the meat 
Brown the bacon Sauté the diced bacon until golden in a frying pan before putting aside on a plate.
Using the same pan, melt a third of the butter, add the shallots and sauté until slightly browned before setting aside.
brown the shallots 
start cooking the mushrooms Again, using the same pan, melt another third of the butter; add the mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Add the remaining butter and oil to the frying pan, add the chicken and sauté until golden and stir in the flour.
Brown the chicken 
Put chicken into a casserole dish Transfer the chicken to a casserole dish and add the stock.
Pour the brandy into the frying pan and boil, stirring to deglaze the pan before pouring the brandy and juices over the chicken.
deglaze the pan 
Add the reserved marinade, shallots, mushrooms, bacon and tomato paste.
Cook over moderate heat for 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
If after the 45 minutes the sauce needs thickening, lift out the chicken and bring the sauce to the boil.
In a saucepan, mix together butter and flour to make a beurre manie and whisk into the sauce.
Boil, stirring until the sauce thickens. Return the chicken to the sauce and add the parsley.
Thicken sauce using a beurre manie 
To serve, lay down a bed of mashed potato and arrange the Coq au Vin on top or beside it.
Notes:
In days gone by rather than using a beurre manie, the sauce was thickened using the blood of the rooster used in the dish.
