Coq Au Vin - French For Rich Purple Chicken Dish

 

This recipe usually requires a bunch time but I found a little short cut recipe online and gave it a try. To quote Lucas, "that shit smelln' gooood" while it was cooking and be prepared for a heavy, rich, and tasty meal. 

The recipe is for 6-8 servings and I have to admit since the chicken and sauce is so rich, its been a chore eating the leftovers.  After eating the leftovers for a couple meals now, I probably wouldn't make this again unless a large army or a really fat kid requested it.  Its great for a single serving but if you overdo it, your tummy will send you hate mail. I recommend only when feeding bunch of people.

Ingredients

• 1 - 3lb pkg bone in/skin on chicken pieces
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion sliced
• 8 cloves of garlic
• 3 cups red wine (pinot noir, zin, or red blend - we used a red blend)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 parsley and a couple extra springs for garnish
• 1 (10oz) white mushrooms
• 10 slices of bacon
• 1-1.5lbs of red potatoes - can use curly pasta too

Directions

1. Sprinkle chicken with salt (I like to rinse my chicken first - but I don't think you have to)
2. Cook bacon in a separate pan
3. Heat oil in a large pot or deep braising pan. Add chicken skin side down.
4. Add onion and garlic while chicken is browning (2-3mins)
5. Add wine, broth, herbs, and mushrooms
6. Add cooked bacon - cut into 1/2inch pieces, add to pot.  Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Skim surface of any oil
7. While chicken is simmering, boil potatoes until tender (about 20mins).  We roughly mashed potatoes
8. Serve chicken and potatoes together, sprinkle with parsley.

* We used a flour thickener to make a gravy from the chicken broth and it was good!
**Because of the wine, the outside of the chicken was dyed purple and it kinda freaked me out - if serving a blind person, spare them, don't tell them their chicken is purple.