I promised a few months ago when we got married that I would use everything our friends and family gave us for the wedding. I'm doing my best to live up to that and I finally cracked open my Julia Child's "The Art of French Cooking" and pulled a recipe, not really at random.
I have a brand new cast iron pot (thanks Mom and Dad!) so I definitely needed to break it in. Since I had some time I figured why not take my cooking up a notch. Coc au Vin- roughly translated Rooster in Wine. Gosh those French people are creative with their food names. Basically it's chicken cooked in a bottle of wine and some brandy (of course they call for Cognac, expensive French brandy).
While I won't give you the whole recipe here I'll give you the run down, this is more about the experience of working from one of the great masters of the culinary world.
I've decided French cooking has three main ingredients; butter, booze, and fire.
Julia was not afraid of fat or salt so this isn't something you want to try if you have a heart condition. But if you don't dig in, it's delicious. It was like nibbling on a tiny bit of heaven.
Basically you start with bacon and end with butter. Cook the bacon, brown the chicken in the bacon fat, then cover and cook the chicken for 10 minutes. THEN (can you tell this is my favorite part?) you add the cognac and set the whole thing on fire! It burns a bright blue. My husband turned the lights off so we could see when the flames burned out.
Now add the wine (a "full bodied red" like a Chianti or a Beaujolais) chicken stock, tomato paste, garlic thyme and bay leaf. Allow that to cook for about 1/2 hour. While that cooks you saute mushrooms in butter and oil, and saute two onions in butter and oil until they start to brown a little bit, then you add beef stock and cook in the oven for 40 minutes (they turn out amazing). This is actually where I deviated from Julia a little bit. I discovered that my husband does not like pearl onions (luckily before I bought any). I decided to go with a sweet onion instead. The difference is that you never get a full bite of onion which I find can be distracting from the overall meaty deliciousness of the meal.
Finally when the chicken is cooked and the onions and mushrooms are ready remove the chicken from the pot and put it aside. Allow the sauce to come to a boil and reduce until it is approximately 1/2 the original liquid. Create a roux with flour and butter. Mix that into the sauce until it's smooth. Allow it to simmer a minute or two more. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. Now everything is ready, add the chicken back to the pot, also add the mushrooms and onions. Mix and allow the sauce to cover everything.
Now eat!
It really was one of the most delicious meals I have ever eaten. The sauce was velvety smooth and the seasonings were right on. There is no improving Coc Au Vin for me. I'm going to continue to make this meal for my friends and family that come over (wink wink come visit).
What I really took away from this particular preparation is that chicken does not have to be boring, or the star of the meal. The true winner were the onions. They were a sweet, bright tickle in the middle of a very savory and hearty and heart warming meal.
I loved it. My husband gave it the "husband stamp of approval". He actually said "two spoons up".
Julia Child is my hero.
I have a brand new cast iron pot (thanks Mom and Dad!) so I definitely needed to break it in. Since I had some time I figured why not take my cooking up a notch. Coc au Vin- roughly translated Rooster in Wine. Gosh those French people are creative with their food names. Basically it's chicken cooked in a bottle of wine and some brandy (of course they call for Cognac, expensive French brandy).
While I won't give you the whole recipe here I'll give you the run down, this is more about the experience of working from one of the great masters of the culinary world.
I've decided French cooking has three main ingredients; butter, booze, and fire.
Julia was not afraid of fat or salt so this isn't something you want to try if you have a heart condition. But if you don't dig in, it's delicious. It was like nibbling on a tiny bit of heaven.
Basically you start with bacon and end with butter. Cook the bacon, brown the chicken in the bacon fat, then cover and cook the chicken for 10 minutes. THEN (can you tell this is my favorite part?) you add the cognac and set the whole thing on fire! It burns a bright blue. My husband turned the lights off so we could see when the flames burned out.
Now add the wine (a "full bodied red" like a Chianti or a Beaujolais) chicken stock, tomato paste, garlic thyme and bay leaf. Allow that to cook for about 1/2 hour. While that cooks you saute mushrooms in butter and oil, and saute two onions in butter and oil until they start to brown a little bit, then you add beef stock and cook in the oven for 40 minutes (they turn out amazing). This is actually where I deviated from Julia a little bit. I discovered that my husband does not like pearl onions (luckily before I bought any). I decided to go with a sweet onion instead. The difference is that you never get a full bite of onion which I find can be distracting from the overall meaty deliciousness of the meal.
Finally when the chicken is cooked and the onions and mushrooms are ready remove the chicken from the pot and put it aside. Allow the sauce to come to a boil and reduce until it is approximately 1/2 the original liquid. Create a roux with flour and butter. Mix that into the sauce until it's smooth. Allow it to simmer a minute or two more. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. Now everything is ready, add the chicken back to the pot, also add the mushrooms and onions. Mix and allow the sauce to cover everything.
Now eat!
It really was one of the most delicious meals I have ever eaten. The sauce was velvety smooth and the seasonings were right on. There is no improving Coc Au Vin for me. I'm going to continue to make this meal for my friends and family that come over (wink wink come visit).
What I really took away from this particular preparation is that chicken does not have to be boring, or the star of the meal. The true winner were the onions. They were a sweet, bright tickle in the middle of a very savory and hearty and heart warming meal.
I loved it. My husband gave it the "husband stamp of approval". He actually said "two spoons up".
Julia Child is my hero.
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