Coq au Vin

Total time: 90 minutes plus marinating
     Chicken in red wine.  Traditionally this would use a rooster (rather than a hen) and cook for several hours (as the coq would tend to be a tough old bird - but full of flavor).  You can use a whole, cut-up chicken, (broiler-fryer) or, do what I did, use skinless breasts and thighs.  Without the skin the flavors get deeper into the meat and we eliminate a lot of the fat. Use a full-bodied Burgundy or Cote de Rhone (or equivalent) for this.  Not expensive, but drinkable. Do not use 'cooking wine'.  The secret to this dish is the cocoa - it gives an amazing richness and depth of flavor.

 Ingredients:

• 4 chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, 300gr, 10.5oz
• 2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless,  350gr, 12.4oz
• OR  1 whole chicken, cut up
• 1 onion ***
• 1 carrot ***
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled ***
• 1 bouquet garni - or 1 bay leaf, 1/2 tsp rosemary, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp parsley
• 1 bottle red wine, 750gr, 26.5oz  **
• 1 tbs olive oil, 13.5gr, .48oz
• 3 slices bacon, 100gr, 3.5oz
• 4oz mushrooms, 125gr, 4.4oz
• 6 - 8 shallots  (the recipe calls for pearl onions but I normally have to buy a huge bag to get the few I want, so I often use shallots..   Plus I like the taste better), 150gr, 5.3oz
• 1 chicken stock cube or 1 tsp granular or paste chicken base, optional
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 tbs pure cocoa   not a 'hot chocolate' mix, 5.4gr, .19oz
• 2 tbs cornstarch (corn flour, maizena) dissolved in 3 tbs water (you may not use it all)          16gr, .56oz

 Instructions:

• To marinate:  Roughly chop the onion and carrot. 
• Smash the garlic lightly. 
• Put the chicken, onion, carrot, garlic and bouquet garni in a deep bowl. 
• Pour the wine over and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. 
• To cook the chicken:  Remove chicken from marinade and drain well (over marinade). 
• Reserve marinade. 
• Heat oil in heavy, deep pot over medium-high heat.  Brown chicken on all sides, a few pieces at time, about 10 minutes. 
• Return all chicken to pan and pour over reserved marinade and vegetables. 
• Add nutmeg and chicken base (if using). 
• Cover, bring to a simmer, reduce heat and simmer for an hour.
• To cook the vegetables:  Clean mushrooms and shallots, leaving shallots and small mushrooms whole; slice large mushrooms in half. 
• In nonstick skillet sauté bacon until crisp. 
• Remove and crumble (don't eat!) 
• Add shallots to pan with 2 tbs water, cover and cook for 10 minutes. 
• Uncover and cook off liquid. 
• Add mushrooms to skillet and sauté over medium heat until both are nicely browned on all sides about 15 minutes. 
• When done, cover until time to add to chicken.
• To finish:   Remove chicken from pan and cover to keep warm. 
• Strain sauce, discarding solids. 
• Return sauce to pan removing 1/2 cup.  Bring sauce to a boil over medium heat. 
• Put cocoa into a small bowl.  Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup reserved sauce. 
• Slowly whisk cocoa mixture into simmering sauce.  Continue whisking until it returns to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and allow to reduce slightly, about 5 minutes. 
• Dissolve cornstarch in water.   Use to thicken sauce to desired consistency if needed. (The cocoa will thicken it slightly.)  I used about half - the sauce is supposed to be a bit thick but not gluey. 
• Return chicken to pan along with mushrooms, shallots and bacon.  Allow to heat through over low heat, 10 - 15 minutes. 
• Arrange chicken, mushrooms and shallots on a small platter.  Spoon some sauce over and serve the rest on the side.

Note:  This serves 4.

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Nutrition Information               Recipe serves 4             Entire Recipe / per serving Calories:  1691 / 422.5 Total Carbohydrates:  56 / 14           Dietary Fiber: 3 / .75 Total Fat:  80 / 20          Saturated Fat: 22 / 5.5 Cholesterol:  541 / 135.5 Protein:  166 / 41.5 Calcium:  133 / 33.5 Sodium:   1530 / 382.5

General Technical Details and Disclaimer:

**  The nutrition info assumes that 75% of the alcohol is cooked off after 1 hour

***    Discarded after cooking, not included in nutrition info

Measurements are actual measurements used for calculation. If there are no values the nutritional numbers were simply too small.

I try to be accurate, but I do not guarantee it.  I use 'grams' as the unit of weight; with an approximate conversion to ounces.

My information comes from my own digital, computerized scale and the USDA Nutrient Data Library: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/