Cooking with Jonny69: Coq au Vin

Jonny69

Jonny69

Jonny69

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Time for another installment of cooking I think, especially since it's not often you get to say coq on OcUK and get away with it :D This is basically a rich chicken casserole made with red wine rather than water and has a distinct taste and colour compared with normal casserole made with just water and stock. The heaviness of the red wine means you can use a stronger tasting stock, I've used beef stock and that means that a whole host of different veggies can be added since the stock can handle the extra flavours. In mine is lots of onion, carrot and celery. Don't worry if you don't like celery, it just enhances the flavour and pretty much dissolves away. You'll never know it's there!

I've used a poussin which is a young chicken, if you use a normal sized chicken simply double up the quantities.

Ingredients:

1 poussin, skin removed and cut into 4
1 medium onion roughly chopped
1 large carrot chopped
3 sticks of celery chopped
1/2 bottle of cheap red wine (eg Les Fonteilles Bordeaux, £2.64 in Sainsburys)
1 beef stock cube
salt/pepper/tiny pinch of chilli
1 teaspoon of cornflour or flour

Get a large saucepan very hot and brown the chicken in a little oil or duck fat, this will add a lot of flavour. Tip in the chopped veggies and fry for a minute or two. Pour over half a bottle of cheap red and crumble in the stock cube with a tiny pinch of chilli, lots of pepper and salt to taste. Bring back to the boil, cover and reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about an hour. Near the end mix a teaspoon of cornflour with a little water and tip it in which will thicken the gravy.

Serve this up with plenty of crispy roast vegetables like potatoes, parsnips, carrots and whatever is in season.

:)
 
Phalanx said:
TTIUWOP
Click to expand...
You really do ask a lot :D

In Motorola's finest mobile phone quality:

coq.jpg


I changed my mind because I forgot to put the roast veg in, I'm having it with mashed potato instead ;)
 
Jonny69 said:
Time for another installment of cooking I think, especially since it's not often you get to say coq on OcUK and get away with it :D This is basically a rich chicken casserole made with red wine rather than water and has a distinct taste and colour compared with normal casserole made with just water and stock. The heaviness of the red wine means you can use a stronger tasting stock, I've used beef stock and that means that a whole host of different veggies can be added since the stock can handle the extra flavours. In mine is lots of onion, carrot and celery. Don't worry if you don't like celery, it just enhances the flavour and pretty much dissolves away. You'll never know it's there!

I've used a poussin which is a young chicken, if you use a normal sized chicken simply double up the quantities.

Ingredients:

1 poussin, skin removed and cut into 4
1 medium onion roughly chopped
1 large carrot chopped
3 sticks of celery chopped
1/2 bottle of cheap red wine (eg Les Fonteilles Bordeaux, £2.64 in Sainsburys)
1 beef stock cube
salt/pepper/tiny pinch of chilli
1 teaspoon of cornflour or flour

Get a large saucepan very hot and brown the chicken in a little oil or duck fat, this will add a lot of flavour. Tip in the chopped veggies and fry for a minute or two. Pour over half a bottle of cheap red and crumble in the stock cube with a tiny pinch of chilli, lots of pepper and salt to taste. Bring back to the boil, cover and reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about an hour. Near the end mix a teaspoon of cornflour with a little water and tip it in which will thicken the gravy.

Serve this up with plenty of crispy roast vegetables like potatoes, parsnips, carrots and whatever is in season.

:)
Click to expand...


replace cheap red wine with something like a reasonable bordeaux, etc. cheap wine tastes like puke and will ruin the flavour of the food, which in a dish like this is all about the natural flavours. so the wine is very important. Doesn't have to be expensive, say 6-8GBPs

Replace chili with herbes de provence, preferably some fresh thyme and some bay leaves.

You are also missing a vital ingredient, Lardon. An equivalent twould be Italian Pancetta, or if you must some cut up streaky bacon.

You are also missing the mushrooms and also garlic. The celery isn't particualry traditional but is an acceptable addition that adds a nice flavour.

The onion needs to be a big fat tasty french onion. It is also nice to add very small onions, pickling sized towards the end. Baby shalloits would be an alternative.

And Beef stock. please! Notice anything odd aboiut adding a beef stock cube to a chicken dish? There should be no need for any stock cube anyway, the natural flavours from the chicken and vegetables will create a natural stock anyway.

oh, and don't remove the skin, that is what gives the flavour. Fry the pousin for a bit with the skin on to infuse some flavour.
 
Oh, and real cooking has no place for corn flour. A sauce roux will thicken the sauce (basically melt some butter in flour, and mix in).
 
gumbald said:
You're not a student...

If I spent that much on wine, I'd want to taste it properly in addition to the meal :)
Click to expand...

You would, half the bottle in the food, half the bottle to drink. :p
 
Did I upset you DP? :p

Calm down, this is only 'my version'

Lardons is a good idea though. I don't like it with mushrooms, garlic or the skin on. For the record I've made food with expensive and cheap wine and to be fair I couldn't taste any difference. Unless it's a pudding or a sauce where the taste of the wine itself is going to drastically alter the flavour of the finished item I wouldn't bother. If you really want I'll get the title changed to chicken in cheap wine casserole but it doesn't have the same ring to it :)
 
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