Coq au Vin

Coq au Vin
By : Santhosh David K
This is an authentic French dish and a classic way of chicken/rooster cooked in red wine. This recipe is based on legendary Julia Child's Coq au Vin recipe, which is the most famous one. There are lot of dependencies for the best outcome, like age of the chicken (rooster), type of Wine used (preferably Burgundy based Reds - Pinot noir and Gamay) etc. It's been seen that Zinfandel can also be used, instead of Pinot Noir. Enjoy !

Ingredients

10 slices of ounces bacon / Salami
1/4 kg chicken (4 pieces )
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon fresh thyme ( if fresh one is not available, dry can be used)
1/2 tomato
1/2 cup chicken stock (optional)
1/2 glass (approx 100mls) red wine (Pinot Noir or Zinfandel)
6 small sambar onions
6 button mushrooms
Black Pepper & Salt - a pinch

Directions

Desalinate bacon / salami - boil the slices for 10 minutes, drain, pat dry.
Saute the bacon until almost crispy, remove and keep aside.
Brown the chicken, along with Onions, with olive oil till crispy on all sides.
Add wine, chopped tomato and seasoning (bay leaf, thyme) and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the mushrooms and garlic, half way through the cooking time.
Add the bacon to this, simmer for 5 minutes.
Add a pinch of Black Pepper & Salt.
Serve hot

PS: The gravy would be very limited and for more gravy, add chicken stock just before adding wine.
Depending on the wine, the taste may change.
We used Shiraz which is a bit spicy unlike Pinot Noir, which is delicate and fruity.
Naturally, the taste was different.