Coq au Vin

Coq au Vin is a classic French dish of chicken cooked in red wine with onions, carrots, garlic, mushrooms and fresh herbs added. 

Traditionally, it was a way to cook tough chicken. For my version, I use skinless bone-in chicken thighs for an amazing restaurant quality dish that is elegant enough to serve at a dinner party, but equally worthy of week night dinners.

Coq au Vin takes a bit of time to prepare, but is totally worth it. What's even better is that the leftovers (if any) are even more flavorful the next day.

When I asked Susan what she wanted for her birthday, her response was Coq au Vin and Flourless Chocolate Cake! Excellent choices.

Ingredients for Coq au Vin

I've been making this Coq au Vin for a number of years. It never ceases to produce a WOW factor. Most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry/refrigerator.

Making the Sauce for Coq au Vin

When I first started making Coq au Vin, I cooked the chicken in the wine sauce from the beginning. One day, I realized that what really made the Coq au Vin was the richness of the sauce brought about by a long, slow cook. From that point on, I cooked the wine sauce for one hour and 30 minute before adding the chicken.

Here's how I did it. First, I sautéed the chopped onions and carrot in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes in my Dutch oven set over medium heat.

Then, I added the garlic and cooked the vegetables for about 30 seconds until the garlic was fragrant. Next, I added the flour, salt, thyme and pepper, and stirred everything to combine.

Finally, I added the wine, chicken broth and tomato paste and brought the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Once the sauce had thickened a bit, I added the parsley that I had tied into a bundle, covered the Dutch oven, and transferred it to a 325°F oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Preparing the Chicken

While the wine sauce was cooking, I prepared the chicken thighs. First, I trimmed the thighs of excess fat and patted them dry. Next I sprinkled salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken thighs. I browned both sides of the chicken thighs in a little olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat.

Once all of the chicken thighs had been browned, I set them aside until it was time to add them to the wine sauce.

Adding Chicken Thighs to Wine Sauce

After cooking the wine sauce for an hour and 30 minutes, I removed the Dutch oven from the oven. The onions and carrots had done their part to flavor the sauce. Therefore, I poured the contents into a wire strainer set over a large bowl.

Using the back of a spoon, I pressed on the onion mixture to extract as much sauce as possible, and returned the strained sauce to the Dutch oven. I discarded the vegetables.

I added the chicken thighs to the wine sauce in the Dutch oven. Then, I covered the Dutch oven and returned it to the 325°F oven for another hour and 30 minutes. 

Half way through cooking the chicken in the wine sauce, I turned the chicken thighs to ensure that they had maximum contact with the wine sauce. 

Preparing the Pearl Onions and Mushrooms 

While the chicken was cooking in the wine sauce, I prepared the pearl onions and mushrooms. The reason that I cooked the onions and mushrooms separately was that I wanted them to be perfectly cooked. If I had added them to the wine sauce at the same time as the chicken, both the onions and the mushrooms would have been over-cooked.

The first thing that I did with the pearl onions was place them in boiling water for 30 seconds to loosen the skins. Then, I peeled the onions and patted them dry.

Next, I heated some butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat and added the onions. After tossing the onions in the butter, I added some chicken broth, salt and pepper. I brought the mixture to a boil, reduced the heat to medium low and covered the skillet.

I cooked the onions for about 20 minutes, stirring them occasionally, until a fork could easily pierce them. Once the onions were done, I uncovered them, increased the heat to high and cooked them for several more minutes until the chicken broth was evaporated.  I set the cooked onions aside.

For the mushrooms, I heated the skillet with some olive oil over medium-high heat. T

hen, I added the mushrooms and cooked them stirring constantly for several minutes until most of the liquid had evaporated. Next, I added the cognac and continued cooking the mushrooms until the cognac had evaporated.

At this point, I set the mushrooms aside.

Finishing the Coq au Vin

After the chicken had cooked in the wine sauce for an hour and 30 minutes, I removed the Dutch oven from the oven.

I thought that the sauce was a bit thin. Therefore I removed the chicken, and brought the sauce to a boil over medium-high heat. Stirring constantly, I added a slurry of cornstarch mixed with chicken broth to thicken the sauce.

Then, I returned the chicken to the sauce and added the cooked onions and mushrooms. I gave the mixture a stir and heated it for another 5 minutes or so to ensure that everything was nicely heated.

The chicken was falling off the bone tender and succulent, and the sauce incredible. I served the Coq au Vin over buttered noodles with fresh steamed green beans, crusty French bread that I had made earlier in the day and the same Merlot that I used in the wine sauce. Yum!

Recipe