Coq Au Vin

by Cindi Sutter, Founder & Editor of The Spirited Table® Recipe and images from Sunday Suppers Karen Mordechai December 21, 2015

Coq au vin is a classic dish, the perfect, hearty meal. Here is our spin on the recipe, using items found at Simon. Find this and an interview with us here
 
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 5 lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces, bone in (thigh, breast, wing etc)
Sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
½ cup all-purpose flour
6 slices of bacon, diced
8 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 large onion, finely minced
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 sprigs of thyme
2 - 3 fresh bay leaves
4 ½ cups dry white wine (we used Chardonnay)
1½ lbs white button mushrooms, thickly sliced
2½ cups chicken stock or water, as needed
Juice from one lemon
 
Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°. 
2. Wash and dry chicken and season with salt and pepper. Dip each piece in flour until well coated.
3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat add 4 tablespoons of butter until melted. Add the button mushrooms, and sauté until very tender, about 10-15 minutes. Set aside.
4. In a heavy bottomed cast iron crock pot, render bacon over medium heat for 8 - 10 minutes, until lightly browned, then remove and set aside. In batches, sear the chicken in the bacon fat in a single layer for about 5 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Remove from the pan. Add a tablespoon of butter to the pan and add onion, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves. Lightly saute for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add 2 1/2 cups white wine and chicken stock. Put the chicken back in the pot and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms, bacon and pearl onions, remaining white wine and lemon juice and put it in the oven for 1 hour to and 1 1/2 hours as desired (the longer it cooks, the more easily the meat will fall off the bone).
6. Remove the chicken from the oven continue to cook on the stove top over medium-low heat and simmer for another 20 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve alongside potatoes.
7. For the potatoes-Wash potatoes thoroughly. Fill a pot with enough water to cover the potatoes and salt it well. Add potatoes and bring the water to a boil, before reducing the heat and cooking for a further 10 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.  Remove from heat and drain the water. Serve potatoes with plenty of butter, parsley and sea salt.