Coq au Vin with Vegetables

Our dinner tonight comes from Williams Sonoma Complete Seasonal Cookbook.  I, once again, have had this cookbook for a long time.  I love it.  Not only does it have some terrific recipes that are easy to prepare but they are broken down into seasons.  Cookbooks broken down into season or ingredient make it much easier when you are trying to cook locally and seasonally as I do.

I only adapted this recipe a bit.  I halved it as the original recipe fed 6 and there were only 3 of us. I used Gourmet Garden Herbs in place of the fresh herbs.  Also the original recipe called for 3 T. of flour and had you use 1 T. with butter at the end but never mentioned the other 2.  Which just goes to show that even WS can mess up LOL.  This recipe was in the Autumn section but the vegetables used are readily available this time of year in my area as well.

I know that this recipe appears to have a lot of steps but most of them are just moving food from one location to the next.  It is not complicated at all.

Coq au Vin with Vegetables

slightly adapted from Williams Sonoma, Complete Seasonal Cookbook

1 T. unsalted butter

3 strips bacon, diced

6 pieces chicken

salt and pepper to taste

2 c. dry red wine

2 c. chicken broth

1/2 T. tomato paste

1 T. Gourmet Garden Italian Herbs

1/2 T. Gourmet Garden Parsley

1 Parsnip, peeled and cut into 1" lengths

2 Carrots, peeled and cut into 1" lengths

1 turnip, peeled and cut into wedges

1/2 rutabaga, peeled and cut into wedges

1 T. butter, softened

1 T. flour

Cook bacon in butter over med heat in a dutch oven, stirring occasionally, until crisp.  Remove bacon and set aside on a plate.  

Season chicken on both sides liberally with salt and pepper.  Brown until golden in the butter and bacon drippings over med high heat, about 10 minutes.  Remove chicken to plate with bacon.  

Add the wine, broth and seasonings to the dutch oven and bring to a boil, scraping any brown bits from bottom of pan.  Return the chicken and bacon.  Reduce heat to med low, cover and simmer for a half an hour or until chicken juices run clear when poked with a fork.  Remove chicken to a plate.

Strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer and wipe out dutch oven with a paper towel.  Return the liquid to the dutch oven and bring to a boil over med high heat.  Add vegetables, reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until vegetables are tender.  Remove vegetables with a slotted spoon to the plate.  Bring liquid to a boil over high heat.  Boil for a few moments while you mix the flour into the softened butter with fork.  Whisk the butter/flour mixture into the boiling liquid.  Reduce heat to medium and cook stirring occasionally until sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Return chicken and vegetables to thickened sauce and warm through.  Turn all into a large serving bowl.  Print Recipe