Coq au vin

My husband and I spent our honeymoon this summer in Vancouver. One of the things which most struck me about the city was the quality of the food. There is a very strong emphasis on local produce and the quality of the ingredients. One of the things we brought back with us (along with copious amounts of maple syrup and some ice wine) was The British Columbia Seasonal Cookbook (published by Lone Pine Publishing). This recipe comes from the Fall section and calls for specific local ingredients, such as Okanagan Pinot Noir, for which I substituted more generic ones. It also wanted a whole chicken cut into pieces whereas I used thighs, as I think they are an under-rated part of the chicken. So here is my version of the recipe with the North American measures (cups etc.) converted into grams.

Ingredients (serves 2):

35g unsalted butter

60g bacon lardons

4 chicken thighs, boned but with the skin left on

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 celery stick, diced

1 garlic clove, crushed

1tbsp flour

250ml red wine

2 sprigs fresh thyme

500ml chicken stock

2 bay leaves

100g button mushrooms, peeled

freshly ground salt and pepper

I first melted half the butter in a casserole dish then added the bacon cooking it over a medium heat until it was browned. I then removed it from the pan and drained off the excess fat on a couple of sheets of kitchen roll before putting it to one side.

Draining the fat off the bacon

I then seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and cooked them in the butter/bacon fat mixture until golden brown, turning them every so often. I then removed these from the pan and set them aside with the bacon.

Browning the chicken

Further detail on the browning

I then added the onion, carrots and celery to the pan and cooked them on a medium heat, stirring every so often to prevent sticking, until softened. I then added the garlic to the pan and stirred in the flour, cooking this mixture for about 5 minutes.

Part way through dicing the vegetables

The vegetables softening

Once soft, I then put the chicken and bacon back in the pan, adding the thyme, bay leaves, stock and wine until the chicken was covered. I then brought this mixture to the boil, reducing it to a simmer and partially covering it with a lid and set the timer for 45 minutes.

After the dish had been simmering for about 35 minutes I melted the remaining butter in a pan, added the mushrooms and cooked them over a low heat until they had coloured and started to release their juices then seasoned them with a little salt and pepper.

After the 45 minutes were up I checked that the chicken was cooked all the way through, then turned the heat off under the mushrooms and added them to the chicken. As the sauce was still quite liquid at this point I turned the heat up and reduced it until it had thickened up and had a slight sheen to it.

Coq au vin served on a bed of buttered tagliatelle