Coq au Vin

Don't let the French name scare you, Coq Au Vin (chicken braised in wine) it's easy to make. Since we've been getting skinless, boneless chicken thighs, I've been researching various recipes to add to my repertoire. We get our chicken from a local butcher who gets the chickens from a local chicken farmer. I used 4 chicken thighs in this recipe. When freezing the thighs I found it's best to place 3 thighs in a quart size baggie because the chicken expands slightly and the quart size is too small for 4 thighs in the same bag.

4 boneless chicken thighs or one stewing or frying chicken
1 half yellow onion chopped medium or 20 pearl onions
3 garlic gloves chopped fine
1 cup of carrots chopped medium|
1 cup of celery chopped medium
1-1/2 cups of dry red wine 
(I used more wine because dh didn't like the red he bought)
2 tbs tomato paste (I use the tubed paste which I keep in the fridge)
1/2 pound of mushrooms sliced thick or quartered
2 tsp of dried thyme or a large sprig of fresh thyme
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 tbs unsalted butter

This recipe version is a combination of Julia Child, Alton Brown, and Ina Garten. You can't go wrong with recipes from these three chefs. According to Julia Child this recipe was developed when poor folks in France could only get the old and tough chickens to feed their families. Julia cooks the chicken on the stove top which I did. Why heat the oven needlessly.

All three recipes call for bacon or pork fat back. Since I had none so I used olive oil which I had on hand to sauté the vegetables and chicken. I also cut the thighs into quarters like stew meat. Check out the three recipe versions with links above for instructions on how to prepare. I didn't find a need to use flour to thicken the sauce/gravy. Serve over rice, pasta, potatoes, or polenta to absorb the delicious sauce/gravy produced with this recipe. Or perhaps some crusty French or Italian bread would be more to your liking. Enjoy. (photos borrowed from the net)

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