Coq au Vin for $78.88

Coq au Vin is a french term for braising chicken (or rooster) in wine and other tidbits like onions, mushrooms and pork fat. (Mmm..pork fat)

I recently watched the episode of Alton Brown making Coq au Vin. This was also shortly after watching Julie & Julia. I was inspired. Plus, I figured if anyone could make Coq au Vin the easy way it was Alton. Now, living in the bush has some ups, but when it comes to cooking there are a lot of downs. We just don't get every ingredient that we need and the ones we do need are fairly expensive. Needless to say, I had to make do with a $16 bottle of red wine, which was the cheapest available in town. I was also happy to learn there are no pearl onions in town since I really don't care for them. I substituted a large spanish onion. I thought I might try to put things in to perspective by adding the cost of the items. This is not a cheap dish anywhere since it has 2 bottles of wine in it, but I just thought I'd see what the total cost is.


Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 24 to 30 pearl onions (1 large onion $2.34)
  
• 4 chicken thighs and legs, or 1 (5 to 7-pound) stewing chicken, cut into serving pieces ($11.50)
  
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (on hand)
  
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour(on hand)
  
• 2 tablespoons water (on hand)
  
• 6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed (I used bacon 7.99)
  
• 8 ounces button mushrooms, quartered (5.99)
  
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (on hand)
  
• 2 (750-ml) bottles red wine, preferably pinot noir ($32)
  
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (1.99)
  
• 1 medium onion, quartered ($2.34)
  
• 2 stalks celery, quartered (on hand)
  
• 2 medium carrots, quartered (4.99 a bag)
  
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed (1 bulb 2.99)
  
• 6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme (used dried-on hand)
  
• 1 bay leaf(on hand)
  
• 2 cups chicken stock or broth (6.75)

For a grand total of $78.88

Directions

Cut off the root end of each pearl onion and make an "x" with your knife in its place. Bring 2 to 3 cups of water to a boil and drop in the onions for 1 minute. Remove the onions from the pot, allow them to cool, and then peel. You should be able to slide the onions right out of their skin. Set aside. (Again, I didn't use pearl onions, but I thought I'd leave the directions incase someone would want to.)

Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken pieces, a few at a time, into a large (1 or 2-gallon) sealable plastic bag along with the flour. Shake to coat all of the pieces of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the bag to a metal rack.

Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the pearl onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until lightly brown, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Next, brown the chicken pieces on each side until golden brown, working in batches if necessary to not overcrowd the pan. Transfer the chicken into a 7 to 8-quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven.

Add the mushrooms to the same 12-inch saute pan, adding the 1 tablespoon of butter if needed, and saute until they give up their liquid, approximately 5 minutes. Store the onions, mushrooms and pork in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Pour off any remaining fat and deglaze the pan with approximately 1 cup of the wine. Pour this into the Dutch oven along with the chicken stock, tomato paste, quartered onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Add all of the remaining wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is tender. Maintain a very gentle simmer and stir occasionally.

Once the chicken is done, remove it to a heatproof container, cover, and place it in the oven to keep warm. Strain the sauce in a colander and remove the carrots, onion, celery, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf. Return the sauce to the pot, place over medium heat, and reduce by 1/3. Depending on how much liquid you actually began with, this should take 20 to 45 minutes.

Once the sauce has thickened, add the pearl onions, mushrooms, and pork and cook for another 15 minutes or until the heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, remove from the heat, add the chicken and serve. Serve over egg noodles, if desired.

Cook’s Note: If the sauce is not thick enough at the end of reducing, you may add a mixture of equal parts butter and flour kneaded together. Start with 1 tablespoon of each. Whisk this into the sauce for 4 to 5 minutes and repeat, if necessary.

Ta-da! This is REALLY good. Aaron doesn't like thing that are cooked in wine so he was meh about the dish, but I REALLY enjoyed the sauce. The chicken was ok, but the sauce was amazing! There were leftovers, but I ate them at 2nd dinner at 11 at night. It was even better reheated hours later.