25. Who's--Havin' Sex--With the Chicken? (coq au vin)

You ever have people over for dinner and they bring a bottle of wine that tastes kinda like vinegar to you cause you have a narrow wine palate so you put it aside for cooking then forget about it then when you finally think of it again, it actually is vinegar but luckily vinegary red wine lends itself nicely to chicken braised with bacon, onions, carrots, mushrooms and herbs? That happened to me. This is the story.

The quintessential coq au vin recipe is Julia Child's. And while I'm sure the hours of prep are worth it, I also don't want to find myself eating dinner post-cannon. So I did my own thing:


1/4 lb sliced bacon
2 lbs chicken thighs and breasts, bone-in, skin-on
2 tbsp flour seasoned with a pinch of salt
1/2 lb button mushrooms, quartered
2 onions, quartered (mine were small)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 carrots, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon salty meat-paste (I used Better than Bouillon)
1 teaspoon tomato paste
red wine (I used most of a bottle of Malbec)
1 tsp dried thyme
parsley sprigs
3 tsp butter, divided
Salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Fry the bacon until crispy and all fat is rendered. Thick bacon would be best here. Remove to a plate.
2. Dredge each chicken piece in seasoned flour and place in the hot bacon fat, turning until brown. Remove to a plate when browned (but not cooked through).
3. Meanwhile, heat a large pot on medium-high with a teaspoon of butter and splash of oil. Add mushrooms and onions to the pot, careful not to crowd (or else they'll steam!) and brown. Add garlic and carrots and try to get some colour on them. Season with salt, thyme and parsley. Stir in flour, bouillon, tomato paste and bacon, and nestle in the chicken. Wine time! Pour it in and stir, then cover and simmer 25 minutes or more.
4. Stir in remaining 2 tsp of butter and salt more if needed. Serve with potatoes, bread or egg noodles. Or whatever. We had boiled baby potatoes and toasted french bread.

And here's the dinosaur portion:

It tastes even better the next day. Tomorrow I'll be back with dessert. Wait, I almost forgot!