Over the holidays I read Mastering the Art of French Cooking, both volumes, cover to cover. If you don’t have these books I have to highly recommend them; they literally have everything and in such detail, too. There are, I’ll admit, a few things like the aspics that don’t really appeal to me, but those pale in comparison to the recipes that make my mouth water and stomach growl. Pork stews, braised and gratineed vegetables like endive, quenelles, Provencal green beans, orange sponge cake, buttercreams—even just reading the basic mother sauces left me craving a luscious mouthful of Mornay sauce with cauliflower.
Their recipe for Coq au Vin reminded me of my own version—a lazier version. I’m not knocking Julia Child’s classic recipe by any means, but I wanted to streamline the preparation of this dish, especially because it really does need that full, lengthy cooking time.
What makes this Coq au Van lazy, exactly? Well, when I make it I never once even touch a knife (except to chop a little parsley). I have to confess that, rather than buying slabs of pancetta and cutting them up, the first time I made this I actually bought a 4oz package of tiny naturally aged prosciutto cubes and used that in its place. I know, they’re not the same—it doesn’t ooze out salty, meaty fat—but they still impart a lighter porky flavor in the stew, and you get little tiny bites of hammy goodness. If there is pancetta cubiti in the store that day, though, I go for that. Point is—pick a pig and go with it!
(Bouquet garni with parsley, thyme, and bay leaves.
If your carrot came with a top, or your celery had some leaves, tie some up in there, too!)
I don’t bother with chopping the carrots and celery up into pretty pieces here, either. Frankly, by the time everything is done stewing, the carrots and celery are nothing but mush, all of their flavor having been leeched out into the base of the stew. I just clean them up, break them in half and throw them in, and fish them out at the end. You could use chicken breasts here I’m sure, all though I think that even after braising in wine for a few hours, they can turn out a little stringy and even bland so I always favor the thighs for their deeper flavor.
As for the wine, I always gravitate towards Côtes du Rhône, and this goes for any red wine-based stew I make. Pinot Noir can be substituted, but I find it can be a little too headstrong and even astringent at times. Côtes du Rhône on the other hand is more balanced, and the Chapelle-St-Arnoux by Arnoux & Fils is exquisitely so. If you can find a bottle of their Côtes du Rhône I highly recommend it; it’s inexpensive and one of the best tasting Côtes du Rhône I’ve had in a while (and they are NOT paying me to say this! Since I use a lot of Côtes du Rhône for red wine-based stews I’ve tried a number of them and I am extremely happy with this one so I had to share).
As with most stews, this can be made in advance, and I’d even venture to say it’s better when it is; just stop before the beurre manié and mushrooms go in, cooling the coq au vin down and storing as quickly as possible. When you’re ready to eat, reheat it gently over medium-low to low heat until everything is warmed through. Bring it to a boil and carry on with the beurre manié and mushrooms. I’m sure it could be done in a slow cooker, too, though I’m not sure on the setting or timing—just be sure to caramelize the onions, crisp the pancetta, and sear the chicken first, otherwise you’ll be missing out on quite a bit of flavor.
I like to serve this with baby new potatoes that were rubbed down with olive oil and kosher salt, and roasted in the oven until tender. This way, they stay crispy on the outside and buttery-soft within, and don’t turn to mush in the cooking liquid of the stew.
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| Servings | Prep Time |
| 6 - 8 | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| About 2 hours | 1-1/2 hours |
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This lazy version of the French classic still takes a long time to cook, though inactive on your part, but preparing it couldn't be easier; you can do it with one hand tied behind your back (or to a second bottle of Côtes du Rhône)!
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- 4 ounces pancetta cubitti or bacon
- 1.5 - 2 pounds chicken thighs boneless, skinless
- 12 - 14 ounces frozen pearl onions completely thawed and very dry
- 8 cloves garlic whole and unpeeled
- 1 carrot cleaned and broken in half
- 1 celery rib cleaned and broken in half
- 1 750ml bottle red wine Côtes du Rhône preferred
- 5 tablespoons Brandy VSOP, divided
- 1-1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
- olive oil as needed
- 3 - 4 tablespoons butter divided
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 3 stalks parsley
- 5 sprigs thyme
- 1 carrot top or leafy inner celery stalk optional
- 2 bay leaves
- 1-1/2 t-spoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup fresh minced parsley
- About 4 ounces mushrooms preferably a“gourmet” blend of shitake, cremini and oyster mushrooms so you can just tear them
- 2 pounds baby new potatoes
- First begin by padding your chicken very dry with paper towel and seasoning with kosher salt. Set aside. Then, with either a piece of cheese cloth or butchers’ twine, tie up the parsley stalks, thyme, bay leaves and optional carrot tops (cheesecloth works best in my opinion). Set aside.
- Next heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a Dutch oven or some other large, heavy-bottom pot. Heat until melted and sizzling. Add in the thawed and bone-dry pearl onions, season with a little bit of the salt, and cook on medium-high to medium heat for about 7 - 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want these to start to caramelize on the outside but make sure they don’t start to burn, in which case turn the heat down.
- Once bronzed, remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon to a separate dish. Tip in the lardon of choice. Bring the pot back up to temp and stir around, cooking the pork pieces (or just crisping them in the case of the prosciutto—see note) and getting their salty fats to ooze out. Once crisped and cooked, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and let them mingle with the onions while you continue on.
- Remove all but a thin coating of the fat from the pan, but don’t discard yet. Let the pan get hot yet again, adding another pad of butter. Working in two batches, add your dry, salted chicken to pot, “skin-side” (or what was once the skin-side) down. Cook for about 3-5 minutes or just until it becomes golden brown and seared. Flip it over and cook another minute or two on the other side.
- Remove the chicken, discard any fat in the pan, only leaving a thin coating on the bottom, and throw in your celery and carrot, both snapped in half, garlic cloves, and the tomato paste. Stir around to melt the tomato paste down.
- Pour the ¼ cup of brandy into a measuring cup, pour in and stand back in case it ignites. Scrape the bottom of the pan of any crusty-brown bits.
- Continue stirring while you pour in the wine so everything combines. Add the chicken, pork-of-choice, and caramelized pearl onions back in. Throw in the bundle of herbs and bring to a rolling boil. Once boiling, turn down to the lowest flame and simmer for 1 ½ hours – until the chicken is tender and almost falling apart.
- Remove the carrots, celery and herb bundle from the stew, and bring back to a boil.
- In a separate bowl, mash together 1 tablespoon of butter and flour and, once the stew is boiling, plop it into the pot. Stir it to combine and melt the beurre manié. Let it bubble away for 2-3 minutes before reducing the heat to simmer until thickened—about 3 – 5 minutes. If you’re using cremini mushrooms exclusively, they can go in once the beurre manié is whisked in; more delicate blends with oyster and shitake should go in in the last 3 – 5 minutes of simmering, only long enough for you to chop some parsley and grab some bowls.
- Splash in the last tablespoon of brandy, stir and serve.
- You can serve it as it is or with some rustic French country bread, cut thick, toasted and rubbed down with garlic. Or, to really call this a stew, with 2 pounds of baby new potatoes, rubbed down with olive oil and salt and roasted at 400° for 20 - 30 minutes, until they’re crisped on the outside and buttery-soft within. Divide them among the serving bowls and top them with the stew. I know typically we’d put the potatoes in with the stew but roasting them separately keeps them from turning to complete mush. Perfection
- In a pinch, desperate for speed and staying true to not having to use a knife, I've bought a package of pre-diced prosciutto from the grocery store. Rather than cooing it for a few minutes to render out any fat, I just tumble it in the pan long enough to crisp it. I know its not the same thing as pancetta or bacon, and it's probably culinary sacrilege to use it, but it gets the job done when you're desperate.