Coq au vin

Tonight in cooking class we made the classic French dish Coq au vin, which is essentially chicken cooked in wine. This was by far my favourite of all the things we've made in the course and I couldn't resist digging into it after getting home.



I'll try to detail what I did because it really did turn out well, thanks as always to Chef Marty's wisdom and expert tips.

Coq au vin

3 lb chicken, cut into six pieces*
250mL white or red wine (I used red but it gives the chicken a purple-ish tinge)
250mL chicken stock
1 cup button mushrooms, left whole
1 cup pearl onions, peeled
1/4 cup vegetable oil, approx.
1/4 cup butter, approx.
1/4 cup flour, approx.
4 rashers of bacon, sliced into lardons
3 garlic cloves, left whole, crushed a bit to help release juices
A few sprigs of thyme, save some leaves for chopping up and adding at the end.
2 dried bay leaves
A few tablespoons of chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 400F.

Heat two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet over high heat. While it's heating up, rub a bit of vegetable oil, salt and pepper over the chicken pieces.

When the pan is very hot, add the chicken pieces skin side down (or "presentation side" down, as Chef Marty noted). Shake the pan a bit to ensure chicken doesn't stick. After a couple minutes, when skin has turned golden, flip the pieces over and cook for another couple minutes, again, shaking to make sure the pieces don't stick. Once well seared on both sides, remove the chicken to a plate.

Drain the chicken fat into a small side pot (you will use some of it later to deglaze). Wipe out the skillet and add a tablespoon more oil, then tip in the sliced bacon. Saute it for a couple minutes until it's cooked, then add the pearl onions to the pan. Cook those until they've begun to brown, then add the garlic. Saute that for 30 seconds, then add the mushrooms. Once those have browned up (a few minutes), deglaze the pan with water and/or a bit of the chicken fat, scraping up any browned bits.

Add the wine and chicken stock to the skillet, as well as some salt and pepper, then add the chicken pieces back in along with the herbs (a few whole thyme sprigs and the bay leaves). Turn the chicken in the sauce to coat well. Reduce the sauce a bit, then cover the pan and put it in the oven for 20-30 minutes to cook. Remove the lid for the last few minutes of cooking time to help the chicken develop its golden brown crust.

While the chicken is cooking in the oven make a beurre manie -- roll a hunk of butter into a golf ball sized piece using your hands, then roll it around in a bowl of flour, incorporating the flour into the butter. Keep incorporating the flour into the butter until when you press into the ball your finger doesn't feel buttery anymore. It should feel almost like a ball of dough. You will use this later to thicken the sauce.

Once the chicken is cooked through, take the pan out of the oven. Set aside the chicken pieces and remove the herbs (these can be thrown away). Set the skillet over high heat again and reduce the cooking liquid. Take a few spoonfuls of the liquid and put it into a bowl, add your beurre manie and whisk until your butter-flour ball has dissolved into the liquid. Now add that back into the skillet and whisk it quickly back in. Adding the flour and butter together separately helps prevent lumps from forming, and it also helps prevent the sauce from breaking.

Once you're happy with the thickness of the sauce add the chicken back in, along with some fresh chopped parsley and thyme, turn the pieces to coat in the sauce, and you're done! A great dish to serve up family-style.

*I left the legs attached to the thighs but if you want you can separate them, making eight pieces in total, two each of breasts, wings, legs, and thighs.


Salut!

Suzanne

Email comments to suzannekathrynellis@gmail.com

Light comfort food, Part One: Soupe Savoyarde

For four Sundays in February I'm trying out a comfort food recipe from the latest edition of Cooking Light, in an attempt to answer the question: can light comfort food satisfy the same way the rich, fat-laden stuff does?

For part one, I made the French recipe Soupe Savoyarde, a stew of winter vegetables including potato, turnip, celery root, leek, and onion, simmered together in a creamy broth and served with a white cheddar-topped baguette slice.



My first comment, in making this recipe, would be to make sure the vegetables are chopped to the specified size. Most were supposed to be cut in 1/2 inch pieces, but mine were closer to an inch in size. This meant it took more than double the time it should've for the vegetables to become tender.

So, the hour it should've taken me to make the stew turned into close to two hours, and I was ravenous by the time I dished it out into my bowl.



One other thing I modified was the cheesy baguette. The recipe recommended putting the cheese-topped bread in the bowl and then pouring the hot stew over top, allowing the cheese to melt and help thicken the broth. I opted to broil the baguette slices in the oven and serve them alongside the stew, dipping the cheese bread into the broth from time to time.

Oh - I also used 2% milk, since that's what I had on hand (the recipe called for whole milk), so I saved some fat and calories that way.

Impressions: well, it filled me up. After the first bowl I was stuffed. I liked how the leeks infused the broth with a mild sweetness, and the vegetables were a decent consistency - not too firm, not too mushy - once they'd been cooked enough. I'd have to say though, despite the addition of salt and pepper, there wasn't a whole lot of flavour. It was definitely a mild dish. Next time, rather than cook the vegetables in water I might cook them in chicken or vegetable stock, to add a touch more oomph at the end. I'd probably add garlic, as well.



Dipping the baguette into the stew was tasty though, and I like that the bread stayed crisp. If I'd followed the recipe and poured the broth over top it would've gone soft almost immediately.

Finally, the presentation. On its own, the stew isn't much to look at - the broth is white, and the vegetables are white. Maybe this is an insult to the traditional recipe, but I sprinkled over some parsley at the end to give it a small hit of colour.

All in all, I'd say it was filling, but not entirely satisfying.

Soupe Savoyarde

1 baking potato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
3 cups thinly sliced leek (about three large)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 small celery root, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups water
2 cups whole milk
8 1-oz slices French bread
8 1/2-oz slices sharp white Cheddar

Place potato in medium bowl; cover with cold water to 1 inch above potato. Set aside

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion to pan and cook 7 minutes until soft but not browned. Add leek, turnip, celery root, and salt and pepper. Place sheet of aluminum foil directly over vegetables. Cover , reduce heat to low and cook 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Discard foil.

Drain potatoes; add to pan. Stir in 2 cups water. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

Heat milk in a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat to 180 degrees or until tiny bubbles form around the edges. Do not bring to a boil. Gradually stir hot milk into vegetable mixture and season as needed.

Preheat broiler.

Place bread slices on baking sheet, in single layer. Add cheese now, if desired. Once bread is crisp, place in bottom of bowl and pour soup over top.

Serving size: 1 1/4 cups soup per bowl. Recipe serves 8.

Calories per serving: 311
Fat: 10.5 g (sat. 6.2, mono 2.7, poly 0.8)
Protein: 12 g
Carbohydrates: 43.6 g
Fiber: 4.9 g
Cholesterol: 29 mg
Iron: 2.7 mg
Sodium: 640 mg
Calcium: 278 mg

Courtesy Cooking Light, Jan.-Feb. 2009

Next Sunday: Cassoulet

Salut!

Suzanne

Email your comments to suzannekathrynellis@gmail.com.

Boeuf Bourguignon - a two-person job but so worth it

My sister Barb came downtown to visit today - we'd planned a day around cooking a fantastic dinner so she arrived late morning so we could decide what to make and shop for the ingredients at the nearby St. Lawrence Market.

Over pastries and coffee we pored over cookbooks looking for something challenging that neither of us had tried before. We decided on the classic French dish Boeuf Bourguignon - a delicious stew of beef, bacon, pearl onions, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, and of course lots of red wine and Cognac to make it even more decadent. For a side we thought mashed Yukon Gold potatoes and crispy leeks would do nicely. And a couple of bottles of Bordeaux wine, naturally.

After a full day of grocery shopping and hanging around the city we started on dinner, which we knew was going to take a good three hours (two hours of which was simply letting the beef braise in the oven). If you ever decide to make Boeuf Bourguignon, be aware of the time commitment and that between all the chopping and stages of cooking it's helpful to have two people involved in the process. Barb and I had never cooked a meal together before but we did quite well in my admittedly small kitchen. As I fried the bacon, she washed and sliced mushrooms, then she took over sauteing the beef chunks as I measured out beef stock and flour. We decided not to flambe the Cognac - visions of my condo going up in flames - but we added it anyway knowing that most of the alcohol would cook off anyway.



Three hours after we started, after having already polished off a bottle of wine, dinner was served, and I have to say, it was excellent. The boeuf bourguignon was hearty, stick-to-the-ribs good, and the creamy mashed potatoes with leeks were divine. I'd never made mashed potatoes with leeks before but the combination is fantastic.

We finished it all off with a sinfully rich chocolate raspberry cake from one of the Market bakeries.

Now that is what I call a perfect meal.



Salut!

Suzanne

Suggestions, tips, advice, recipes to share? Comment below or email suzannekathrynellis@gmail.com.