Coq au Vin

This was a bit of a community effort that started 10 months ago. I collected fresh fertilized eggs from the farm up the street and incubated them in my Magic Fly incubator.

Which produced chicks.

That the farm the other way down the street raised. Tonights dinner was the extra rooster which was butchered by the sister of the lady next door to me. So the whole neighbourhood had a hand in it.

I used a recipe from FoodNetwork.com by Ina Garten.

2 tbsp olive oil

4 ounces bacon, diced

1 coq or chicken

salt & pepper

1/2 lb carrots, cut in one inch pieces

1 yellow onion, sliced

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1/4 cup brandy or cognac

1/2 bottle red wine

1 cup chicken stock

10 sprigs thyme

2 tbsp butter

1 1/2 tbsp flour

1/2 lb pearl onions

1/2 lb crimini mushrooms, steams removed, thick sliced

Don't know why there is no bay leaf. I guess it was in the stock.

The coq was cleaned and skinned but whole so the first thing I did was break it down and take out the back bone. I used that to make stock in the morning. The other early prep thing was the pearl onions. They had to have the root tip cut off then be blanched for 1 minutes, cooled and the skins popped off.

To make stock: Place carcass in large pot with a carrot, stick of celery, bay leaf and onion stuck with 2 cloves. Cover with water, bring to a boil and boil hard to get sludge on top. Skim the sludge to get a nice clear stock. Boil for 45 minutes should be enough. Strain.

Heat oil in dutch oven and add bacon, cook till browned. Remove bacon from pan. Salt and pepper the coq and fry 3 pieces at a time till both sides have a little colour. If you try to brown all the meat at once it will cool the pan too much and the flavour will not develop. Take time and do it right. Remove meat from pan.

The recipe doesn't mention it but fry the mushrooms in the pan at this point and remove them to a separate plate. It saves using another frying pan later.

Add yellow onion and carrots to pan. Cook till the onion is caramelized. Add garlic, cook for a minute. Add the brandy. Add chicken and bacon. Add wine, coq stock and thyme. Bring to a simmer, cover and put in the oven at 250F for 30-40 minutes. 

I cooked the pearl onions with the yellow onions which was a mistake, but it tasted ok.

If you didn't fry the mushrooms earlier do it now in some oil and butter. 

Place dutch oven on stove top burner. Mix the flour into a tablespoon of butter and stir it into the stew. Add the mushrooms and pearl onions. Simmer 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. It does need more salt.

I served it on basmati rice with steamed broccoli finished in olive oil. It was delicious. I have another clutch of eggs incubating so in the fall we should have another coq to cook and we'll definitely be making this again.