Coq Au Vin

Coq Au Vin
This is a recipe I had seen in various cookbooks, and always wanted to try. So a few days ago when I had a couple of white onions a half bottle of red wine that was about to go bad, I decided this would be the perfect time to make this dish. As always, I strayed from the recipe a bit when I felt like it, but its was based loosely on Julia Child's book (available for purchase to the right)

Ingredients- 4 servings

• A few strips of thick bacon (cut into lardons)
  
• 2 white onions
• 1 lb. mushrooms (white button)
• 2lbs. chicken pieces, bone-in, skin-on
• half a bottle of red wine
• 1-2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 2 tbsp. butter, softened

Recipe

1. Simmer bacon for 10 mins (so the flavor doesn't overpower the chicken later)

2. Drain and dry off
   
3. Saute bacon slowly in hot butter (in a casserole) until slightly browned, remove
   
4. Dry and brown chicken in the bacon fat

5. Season the chicken, return bacon to pan
6. Cover and let cook slowly 10 mins
7. Uncover, and pour in wine. Then pour in enough stock to cover chicken
8. Stir in tomato paste, garlic


9. Cover and simmer 25-30 mins, until chicken's juices run clear. Remove chicken
10. Meanwhile, caramelize onions in butter (in a different pan), set aside
    


11. Cook the mushrooms (in the onions' pan) til tender in butter, set aside
    


12. Simmer chicken's cooking juices until reduced to 2 1/4 cups



13. Re-season sauce
14. Blend butter and flour together to make a paste
15. Beat the paste into the chicken sauce with a whisk
16. Simmer until thick enough to coat a spoon
17. Top chicken with sauce, mushrooms and onions