Thursday, March 08, 2018

Slow cooker Coq Au Vin

I have always wanted to cook with red wine but the few times that I've tried it with beef didn't taste so great. Eventually I found out that I had been missing a key step - I need to boil off the alcohol otherwise it leaves a bitter taste! Decided to re-try coq au vin which surprisingly, pairs chicken with red wine. I'd always been taught that red wine goes with red meats and white wine goes with white meats but I guess chicken is poultry which is 'neutral'.

Here's a great writeup of Julia Child (the doyen of American cooking) with her interpretation of the recipe and it works quite well!

https://leitesculinaria.com/5399/recipes-julia-child-coq-au-vin.html

I've tweaked it for our tastes so I cannot claim this to be either authentic Julia Childs or French. Original recipe includes tomato paste, thyme, and bacon which I didn't have on hand.

Ingredients
1.2 kg of chicken drumsticks
3 bay leaves
2 glasses of red wine
1l of chicken stock
1 tbsp onion chutney
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 large carrots, peeled and cubed

Method
1) Marinate the chicken in the red wine for at least 4 hours or best, overnight.
2) Drain the chicken. In the slow cooker pot, brown the chicken drumsticks.
3) Add the onion chutney and bay leaves. Pour back the red wine marinade. Bring to a boil so that the red wine evaporates.
4) Add in the chicken stock and ensure that the chicken is immersed. Add the potatoes and carrots.
5) Slow cook for 6 to 8 hours. Let it rest for ½ hour in the residual heat before serving. If you wish, add a tbsp of flour to thicken the sauce at the end.
6) Goes best with buttered bread or buttered brioche to mop up the juices.

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