Coq au vin

Rooster with wine. Like most traditional peasant foods this is perfect for the modern day family. A rich and hearty, one pot meal to savour.

My copy of Larousse makes mention of the traditional farming practice of keeping virile roosters for several seasons as breeding stock. When they could no longer keep the hens and their farmer happy, they would be eaten - though their old age and toughness necessitated braising in a casserole.

This version is fairly true to the earliest recorded recipe that I could find. Though it uses a hen rather than a cock.

The ingredients. One medium sized chicken (in this case 1.6kg), 20g butter, 250g of thickly sliced bacon (in this case 2 half centimetre slices which are roughly cut into 1cm pieces), 8 pickling onions, 12 button mushrooms, 500mls of red wine (in this case tempranillo, shiraz would be fine), 400mls of veal stock (bought from supermarket), 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, 3 cloves of chopped garlic, 2 bouquet garni (each made up of 1 bay leaf, 1 small celery stalk, 1 sprig of thyme, 1 stick of parsley and a strip of orange zest), plain flour seasoned with pepper.

How?

In a heavy oven proof casserole, heat butter and a tablespoon of olive oil and brown the bacon. Remove and drain on absorbent paper. Now add the peeled onions and turn heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes. While doing this - cut the chicken into 6 pieces and toss in the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess flour. Once the onions are done remove, and tip out the butter and cooking juices and replace with a few tablespoon of fresh olive oil. Add the chicken a few pieces at a time and brown each side. Once done, remove the chicken from the pan and now add the wine to deglaze the pan, removing any cooked on bits from the base of the pan in the process. To this add the stock, tomato paste and garlic. Bring to the boil and add the chicken pieces and the bouquet garni. Cover and place in an oven that has been preheated to 160 degrees Celsius. Remove after 25 minutes, and now add the onions, mushrooms and bacon. Once the final ingredients are added cover and return to the oven for a further 30-40 minutes.

This should keep 4 people happy! Though you will need something to mop up the sauce - so serve with crusty bread and butter (if you need something to stick to the arteries).
The chicken should be falling off the bone and juicy, tender and richly flavoured from the wine. The bacon will impart a smokey, savoury element and the onions give sweetness.

Wine? This is an excellent dish to match with wine. I ate mine with a lovely cool climate shiraz, which had plenty of acidity - it was one of the best food and wine matches I have had at home for some time.

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