Friday, May 3, 2013
Vive la France - and Coq au vin
or braised chicken in wine.
We love our comfort food, that good home cooking, especially now in winter. The evenings are getting quite chilly nowadays - yes, also in Namibia, so we prefer rather something substantial. Coq au vin is one of the classics I really like to prepare, because it somehow cooks itself. Last year Christmas we got a pressure cooker from my parents in law, since then I do my coq au vin in there and after only 1 hour of cooking, the flesh is falling off the bone and melting in your mouth.
I honestly don't remember where I got the initial recipe from, it's so long ago and with years I stumbled upon many recipes with similar ingredients structure and I just added and abandoned here and there ingredients. The recipe I cook with stayed unchanged for the last few years, so I guess I found for me my perfect coq au vin.
First of all, I don't use the whole chicken, as in the original french recipes described, instead I'm just using drumsticks and thighs. For us two ( and a half) I mostly buy a package of 8 each and it's more than enough for one dinner. The amount of the sauce is as much as for a whole chicken, because we love a lot of sauce, so if you prefer using a whole chicken, you don't really need to increase the ingredients.
Aside from that, if you are lucky to get a Burgundy wine, you must promise to use that. If you're not, as myself, you must use a decent wine, preferable a Pinot Noir and not the cheap "papsak" wine (wine in a box), you normally would take for cooking. I know, one should always take a good wine for cooking, but let's be honest, who really does it. So make an exception and you will be rewarded with a delicious dish.
Ingredients (for 2 persons)
1,2 kg chicken (in my case thighs and drumsticks)
6 shallots or small onions, quartered
1 medium to big carrot, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, whole
flour to dust
2 cl cognac or brandy
oil
750 ml decent red wine, preferable Pinot Noir, optimal: Burgundy
250 ml water
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 bouquet garni (bay leaf, thyme, parsley)
1 stripe orange peel
salt
pepper
200 g bacon
250 g button champignon
1 handful chopped parsley
1-2 tbsp black currant jelly
1 french loaf
Wash and pat dry your chicken, heat a good dash of oil in the pressure cooker and sear the chicken till turning nice golden brown. Remove from the pot and caramelise the carrot, onion and garlic.
Now put the chicken back in and flambé with the cognac/brandy. Please be careful with that step and be aware, that as soon as you light the alcohol, a darting flame will come out the pot. Use to ignite either a very long match or wooden skewer and keep your face away from the pot. Whatever happens, try to avoid to look into the pot, while you're igniting the brandy. The flame will go out as soon as the alcohol is gone.
Pour in the wine, mix the tomato paste with the water and pour into he pot. Add the bouquet garni and orange peel, salt and pepper and close your pressure cooker. Bring to boil till the pressure cooker is at its highest pressure point and switch off the heat completely.
In the meantime heat a pan and fry the bacon by medium heat for ca 5 minutes, add the champignon and fry on high heat for another 5 minutes. Mix in the parsley.
As soon as the pressure is released, open the pressure cooker and add the bacon-champignon mixture. Close the lid again bring to boil to the medium pressure point and switch off the heat again.
Wait again till the pressure is completely released. Open the lid, season to taste and add the black currant jelly. Stir and reheat. Remove the bay leaf and orange peel.
Serve with fresh French loaf and
Enjoy!
If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can let the chicken simmer in wine for two hours, then you add the bacon mixture and the black currant jelly and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
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