Classic French Recipes | Coq au vin

Here at Your French Holidays we can vouch for the deliciousness of this month’s recipe, as we rustled it up ourselves very recently, to great success!

Coq au vin has somehow fallen out of favour in the more chichi eateries of France yet it remains one of those recipes for which every home cook worth their salt has a unique twist or secret tip.

Once you have tried it yourself, you can make little changes here and there according to your own taste and preferences but there are certain basics that cannot be ignored: use good red wine (spend what you can, but there seems little point in using a very expensive bottle here), whole shallots, chicken drumsticks and thighs (skin off), lardons mushrooms and garlic.

It will warm your belly and nourish your soul as summer turns to autumn.

Serves 6

Ingredients

750ml medium to full-bodied French red wine
50g butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil
8 chicken drumsticks and 8 thighs
200g pack Waitrose Danish Smoked Lardons
4 cloves garlic, chopped
12 shallots, peeled and left whole
Several sprigs of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
300ml hot chicken stock
250g button mushrooms, cleaned and halved
3 tbsp roughly chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper



The method for making coq au vin really could not be simpler – here is our suggested way of doing it.
Pour the wine into a pan to reduce it by a third – this will take about five minutes.

Heat the butter and oil in a large, sturdy frying pan. Add the chicken and fry for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown, turning frequently.

Set aside. Add the lardons to the pan and fry for eight minutes, or until golden.

Return the chicken to the pan with the garlic, shallots, herbs, reduced wine and stock.

Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the chicken juices run clear when pierced.

Add the mushrooms and cook for 10 minutes. Season, sprinkle with parsley.

Wine recommendation:

You should serve the same wine than the one used in the recipe or try to follow the same grape variety.

I would avoid any Gamay wines( for the cooking) and go for a grape variety with a some good tannins as they will give a lot of flavours and structure to your sauce.

Personal favourite will be a Cahors wine, a Cabernet from the Medoc region in Bordeaux or a Syrah from the Languedoc-Roussillon.

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Friday, 16th, September by Alexandre Barrau