EVEN THOUGH IT WAS 100º I MADE THIS

For some reason, though it was boiling yesterday, I felt like eating something "wintery."  And Wallie, my 10-month-old, loves "stewy" things, so really I was cooking it for her. I didn't want to heat up the kitchen for hours and hours so took a classic coq au vin recipe and adapted it to make it quicker and much easier.  It not as rich as the original recipe, but it still hit the spot.  Wallie devoured it.  I served it with the roasted root vegetable salad (above) and butter lettuce salad.  We had fresh, cold pineapple for dessert.

COQ "FAUX" VIN

2 lbs. of boneless, skinless organic chicken thighs (my favorite part of the chicken for its tenderness and flavor.  Bone-in would have been better by far, but this is what I had on hand.)
2 strips of bacon (I like Beeler's nitrite-free)
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
2-3 glugs of olive oil
1/3 bottle of red wine (leftover wine—if you ever have any—is great for this)
salt and pepper

In a sauté pan (preferably one with a lid), and the fry garlic and whole bacon strips over medium high heat until garlic is a medium-brown and bacon starts to go crispy.  Season chicken parts with salt and pepper and add them to the pan.  Brown them very well on both sides, at least 7 minutes per side.  You want them to be almost seared and you want the pan drippings to get all caramel-y.  Add wine to the pan, bring to a boil, scraping up all the browned bits, then reduce heat to a bare simmer.  Cover.  Cook about 45 minutes.  If you want to be fancy you can carmelize in a separate pan: pearl onions or whole shallots or mushrooms or carrots then add these to the chicken pan right before you cover it—any combination would make this dish even more delicious—but I didn't and the fanciness wasn't missed.

Comments

[Llamaschool]

We made this last night, the fancy version with carrots and shallots. Raves, raves. I love recipes like this, where a time-consuming dish is broken down into something that's do-able on a weekday evening. Thanks,

[flover]

Loved this dish, I have never really cooked anything apart from Indian and some persian dishes and I totally loved this dish.. yummy in my tummy and best of all so easy to prepare. I am glad I stumbled on your blog via craigslist.
thanks