Harkess Creative

Traci and I want to share a recipe that we have developed that has become one of our favorites. It's our take on a popular French dish called Coq au Vin, translated Chicken with Wine.

We have made some adjustments to fit our taste, and to make it easier to make. We use wine, but since Traci doesn't want her chicken to be purple, we don't use a red wine. And since we don't like fighting the gristle, skin and fat on our plate, we cook the chicken first, pull all the meat off the bone, then cut it into bite size pieces. An added benefit of cooking the chicken first is a delicious, rich chicken stock that we use in preparing the dish, and for cooking the rice. We serve ours over a bed of rice, which is also a difference from traditional Coq au Vin. Our favorite rice is long grain Basmati. It's nutty flavor marries well with the other ingredients.

The first step is to prepare the chicken. Cut the chicken into quarters, and place into a Dutch Oven in enough water to cover. Liberally salt and pepper the water.

Simmer long enough to fully cook the chicken, about 30 - 45 minutes. Pull the chicken out of the water, and set aside to cool. Reserve the broth. When chicken has cooled, separate all the meat from the bone and skin, and cut the chicken into bite size pieces.

Next, prepare the vegetables. The base of the dish is a staple of French cooking called a Mirepoix, which is the French name for a combination of onions, carrots, and celery. Mirepoix, either raw, roasted or sautéed with butter, is the flavor base for a wide number of dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces. One of our adjustments is the use of olive oil instead of butter, for the sake of our hearts. Plus we have added garlic to the traditional trio.

Begin by finely chopping the carrots, onions, celery and garlic, and sautéing them in the olive oil. After the vegetables have begun to sweat slightly, add the bay leaves, the tomato paste, the anchovy paste, the parsley and the oregano. Continue stirring until the anchovy and tomato pastes have been fully incorporated into the mirepoix.

The next step is also a staple of French cooking, which is a roux. Roux (pronounced "roo") is a cooked mixture of wheat flour and fat, traditionally clarified butter. It is the thickening agent of three of the mother sauces of classical French cooking: sauce béchamel, sauce velouté and sauce espagnole. Butter, vegetable oils, or lard are commonly used fats. It is used as a thickener for gravy, other sauces, soups and stews. It is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat.

To create the roux, sprinkle the flour over the mixture, and stir gently to incorporate completely. Stir continually over medium heat for a few minutes to begin cooking the flour, to avoid the raw flour flavor.

Next, add the chicken stock and wine, and stir as the mixture returns to a simmer. Now, add the chopped chicken, and stir to incorporate. Place in a 275 degree oven, and cook for three hours.

After three hours, remove Dutch Oven to the stove top, and remove the lid. Simmer for a few minutes to thicken the sauce. Cook 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of chicken stock. Serve your dish over rice.