French Chicken Stew Red Wine (Coq au Vin)
This beautiful French classic 'Coq au Vin' of braised chicken, bacon and mushroom in red wine stew will warm your heart and soul.
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 1.5 kilo chicken thigh cutlet (6-7 pieces) (NOTE 1)
- salt to season
- 2 tbsp olive oil
For the stew
- 200 gm bacon (chop into large strips) (NOTE 2)
- 50 gm butter
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 8 small eschalots (peeled) (NOTE 3)
- ¼ cup brandy
- ⅓ cup plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 750 ml red wine (NOTE 4)
- 2 cups salt-reduced chicken stock (low sodium) (NOTE 5)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 4 sprigs thyme (fresh)
- 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 1 tsp chicken powder (chicken stock powder or stock cube)
- ½ tsp salt
- 400 gm small Button mushrooms
- salt and pepper to taste
Optional garnish
- fresh thyme sprigs
- finely chopped parsley
Instructions
- Lightly sprinkle salt on both sides of the chicken. Fry the chicken in two batches. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large dutch oven or a deep frying pan on high heat. Place the chicken skin down, fry each side for 5 minutes or until brown. Remove the chicken onto a plate and cover loosely with foil. Repeat with the remaining oil and chicken. Leave the chicken on the plate and set it aside.
- Use tongs with a paper towel to remove some oil from the pan or dutch oven leaving approximately one or two teaspoons. Heat the pan on medium to high heat, add in the bacon and stir to cook until it browns. Add in the butter, stir until melted, add in the garlic, eschalots and cook for 2 minutes. Then add in the brandy, stir quickly and cook until the alcohol smell dissipates.
- Add in the flour and stir quickly to cook for a minute then pour in half of the wine, keep mixing until it turns into sludge. Pour the remaining wine and mix, then add in the stock, tomato paste, bay leaves, thyme, peppercorn, chicken powder and salt. Mix well and carefully add in the chicken, skin side up. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 40 minutes, stirring now and again.
- Add in the mushrooms and cook the stew uncovered for a further 20 minutes. Have a taste and add salt or pepper if needed, give it a good stir and remove from heat. Garnish with thyme and parsley (if using). Serve with French baguette and mashed potatoes.
Notes
(NOTE 1) Chicken thigh cutlets are chicken thigh fillets with the bone in and skin on. Any chicken parts will work, as long as it's bone-in with skin.
(NOTE 2) Bacon - I used middle bacon as I couldn't get any other variety because of the lockdown. I removed the rind and most of the fat from the rashes. Shortcut or lean bacon is best because the stew is already rich so it doesn't need the fatty parts of the bacon.
(NOTE 3) Eschalots (French shallots)- With several varieties of shallots, spring onions and other small onions it can get confusing. It also doesn’t help that countries call the same type of veggies a different name! Eschalots look like small brown onions but are skinny and oval-shaped, they're difficult to peel and way more expensive than other types of onions.
(NOTE 4) Red wine - I've made this stew with a bottle of cheap dry red wine and it came out really bitter. To fix this, I swapped it to 'red blend' wine that we drink often, it's a little sweet and less bitter. It made a world of a difference, so the key here is to use a red wine that you know and love to drink.
(NOTE 5) Salt-reduced chicken stock - I prefer using salt-reduced stock in my dishes because it gives me the flexibility to adjust the salt later to my taste. The last thing you want is a dish that ends up being way too salty!
Leftovers - Allow the stew to cool completely at room temperature. Transfer the stew into a sealed container and refrigerate, it'll be good for up to 3 days.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 650kcalCarbohydrates: 22gProtein: 39gFat: 32gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 185mgSodium: 663mgPotassium: 1082mgFiber: 3gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 401IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 57mgIron: 4mg