*adapted from various Coq au Vin recipes in the UK
Comforting, delicious, great as leftovers. This dish is a winter winner for guests or a Sunday dinner. I used bacon instead of pancetta. Apparently, you are supposed to use an older, tougher bird for more depth of flavor...I did not really worry about it and it still turned out delicious!
Ingredients:
1 large chicken, jointed into 6 or 8 pieces, giblets and carcass saved
an onion, a carrot and a few peppercorns for the stock
2/3 cup pancetta or unsmoked bacon in the piece
2 tbsps butter
2 medium onions
a large carrot
2 ribs of celery
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsps cornstarch or 2 tbsps gluten-free flour
2 tbsps cognac
a bottle of red wine
4 or 5 small sprigs of thyme
3 bay leaves
3 tbsps butter
12 small onions, peeled
1 cup small mushrooms
boiled or steamed potatoes, to serve
Directions:
1. Put the chicken carcass, its giblets and any bits of bone and flesh into a deep pan, cover with water, add an onion and a carrot, half a dozen whole peppercorns and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and let it simmer until you need it.
2. Cut the pancetta into short strips; they need to be thicker than a match but not quite as thick as your little finger. Put them, together with the butter, into a thick-bottomed casserole and let them cook over a moderate heat. Stir the pancetta from time to time (don't let it burn) then, when it is golden, lift it out into a bowl, leaving behind the fat in the pan.
3. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and place them in the hot fat in the casserole, so that they fit snugly yet have room to color. Turn them when the underside is pale gold. The skin should be honey colored rather than brown - it is this coloring of the skin, rather than what wine or herbs you might add later, that is crucial to the flavor of the dish. Lift the chicken out and into the bowl with the pancetta.
4. While the chicken is coloring in the pan, peel and roughly chop the onions and carrot, and wash and chop the celery. With the chicken out, add the onions and carrot to the pan and cook slowly, stirring from time to time, until the onion is translucent and it has gone some way to dissolving some of the pan stockings. Add the garlic, peeled and thinly sliced, as you go. Return the chicken and pancetta to the pan, stir in the cornstarch or gluten-free flour and let everything cook for a minute or two before pouring in the cognac, wine and tucking in the herbs. Spoon in ladles of the simmering chicken stock until the entire chicken is covered. Bring to the boil, then, just as it gets there, turn the heat down so that the sauce bubbles gently. Cover partially with a lid.
5. Melt the butter in a small pan, add the small peeled onions and then the mushrooms, halving or quartering them if they are too big. Let them cook until they are golden, and then add them to the chicken with a seasoning of salt and pepper.
6. Check the chicken after 40 minutes to see how tender it is. It should be soft but not falling from its bones. It will probably take about an hour, depending on the type of chicken you are using. Lift the chicken out and into a bowl.
7. Turn the heat up under the sauce and let it bubble enthusiastically until it has reduced a little. As it bubbles down it will become thicker and glossy.
8. Return the chicken to the pan and serve with the potatoes.
