A classic meal

Here’s a dish to serve when you’re hosting an important dinner and want to be relaxed when everyone gathers. The beauty of coq au vin is that the layered flavors improve by sitting at least a few hours after the initial baking and then being reheated. Yes, the recipe has a number of steps, but the result is a robust, wine-flavored, positively delicious sauce. It is also easy to do the steps simultaneously, with actual preparation time about a half hour, followed by clean up. Serve the chicken in rimmed plates or large bowls on top of parsley potatoes or noodles to soak up the sauce. A simple salad completes the meal. This recipe easily doubles or triples.

Coq au Vin
6 to 8 servings

 1 bottle (750 ml) hearty red wine, such as a Chianti or Burgundy
2 cups chicken stock
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon freshly ground, coarse pepper
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups baby carrots, peeled
2 onions, peeled and cut in quarters
6 slices thick bacon, finely chopped
2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups mushrooms, cut in half
a few grinds of fresh pepper
3 tablespoons Italian parsley, finely chopped
4 young chickens (poussin) or Cornish game hens, each weighing 2 pounds
1 cup flour
oil for browning chickens
1/3 cup Cognac or brandy
salt to taste
parsley potatoes or noodles, lightly buttered, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 350°

2. Put wine, stock, garlic, thyme, pepper, bay leaves, and tomato paste in a large pot. Bring to a boil, and reduce by about a third. This will take approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

3.  While stock reduces, bring a pan of water to boil, add a teaspoon salt and the carrots and onions. Blanch for 2 minutes. Drain well.

4. At the same time, place the bacon in a skillet and brown. When browned, use a slotted spoon to remove. Place bacon in a casserole dish or roasting pan large enough to hold the chicken in one layer (or slightly over-lapped). Discard the fat and clean the pan.

5. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a cast iron skillet large enough to comfortably hold the carrots and onion. Add them to the pan along with the sugar, turn the heat to medium high, and cook, with only a few stirs, until nicely caramelized. Add to the casserole dish.

6. Melt butter in a skillet large enough to hold the mushrooms. Add mushrooms, a few twists of pepper, and sauté until the mushrooms release juice. Remove from heat and put in a small bowl, sprinkle with parsley, cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

7. Use kitchen shears to cut each bird in half along the backbone and breast and trim any excess fat. Place flour in a sturdy plastic bag and add half the chicken. Toss to coat with flour. Heat a large cast iron skillet, then add enough oil to be about a half-inch deep. Heat until it shimmers. Working in batches, add chicken pieces, skin side down, shaking off excess flour as you remove them from the bag. Brown chicken on the skin side for about 5 minutes, flip over and brown an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Regulate heat so the chicken doesn’t burn but gets nicely browned. Add to the casserole dish.

8. If, after removing the first batch of chicken, the flour in the skillet is at all burned, discard, wipe out pan, and start the same process with a fresh batch of oil. Otherwise just add and heat additional oil as needed. When all the chicken is browned, pour off any excess oil, return pan to heat, and carefully add the Cognac, looking away as it should burst into flames. If it doesn’t, light it with a match. Once the flames die down, pour in the reserved wine sauce from Step 1 and heat.

9. Arrange your chicken in the pan, tucking bacon and vegetables under, around, and over. Pour sauce over, cover pan tightly with foil, and bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven, uncover, add mushrooms and any accumulated juices, recover, and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven, keep covered, and let rest for at least 10 minutes, but preferably two to five hours. If the coq au vin has sat out, reheat for 20 minutes in a 350° oven.

10. Place parsley potatoes or noodles in the bottom of the bowl or plate, cover with a chicken half, vegetables, and sauce.