French Fridays: Coq au vin from My Paris Kitchen

David Lebovitz Coq au Vin from My Paris Kitchen on eatlivetravelwrite.comThis week’s Cook the Book Fridays recipe from David Lebovitz’ My Paris Kitchen is a classic – coq au vin. Chicken (or chicken pieces) is braised in wine with bacon, mushrooms, garlic along with a handful of carrots and onion. Pearl onions are added towards the end. It’s a delightful dish that makes your house smell amazing and, though it sounds complicated, it really isn’t. Something I didn’t realise is that traditionally, this dish is thickened with a little chicken blood but, thankfully this recipe is not!

David’s recipe is actually another David’s recipe (the fabulous David Leite of Leite’s Culinaria) and he has the genius idea to thicken the dish with a slurry of cocoa powder that you add in right at the end. I was skeptical but the cocoa does not add any “chocolate” flavor, rather it enhances the rest of the flavours and makes them sing.

This recipe takes a while to prepare since you need to marinade the chicken pieces in the red wine overnight (I used 8 chicken thighs since that’s what I had on hand) but apart from a little work to brown the chicken, it’s a pretty hands-off dish. A wonderful dinner party dish since you don’t need to stand over the stove. David’s recipe calls for cooking this on the stovetop, covered for around an hour but I have this weird thing about having stuff on the stovetop for too long so I popped it in the oven for around 50 minutes at 375˚F. I was hoping to reduce the broth a little as I found it pretty liquidy but even uncovered in the oven it retained a lot of the liquid.  It IS, however, the perfect dish to mop up with a bit of baguette (which I’ve been working on for the book lately…). AND, bonus? It’s even better the day after (or the day after that!).

Get the recipe for David Lebovitz’s coq au vin on p177-178 of My Paris Kitchen.

MyParisKitchenDavidLebovitz

Purchase My Paris Kitchen for yourselves on Amazon (this link should bring you to the Amazon store closest to you) Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository then join us over on Cook the Book Fridays!

Please note: The product links from Amazon and The Book Depository in this post are affiliate links, meaning if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price (at no extra cost to you) which goes towards maintaining eat. live. travel. write. Thank you in advance!

 

Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of “My Paris Kitchen” for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing do. All opinions 100% my own.

14 thoughts on “French Fridays: Coq au vin from My Paris Kitchen”

  1. I’m a huge coq au vin fan – remember a really nice recipe from when Mardi and I took the Culinary Arts program.

    Well, this is my new favourite. It’s hard to find a rooster proper, let alone chicken blood. (Will search this summer for more authenticity…)

    But this was astoundingly flavourful, and was a gorgeously decadent lunch in the canteen at work.

    Paired with an equally rich Rioja Gran Reserva one night; and with a Meritage (Bordeaux red blend) the next. Delicious.

    Reply
  2. I never thought to put this in the oven but I like that idea. I don’t mind leaving things stove top for long but I sometimes I find the lowest heat is still too high a simmer. I’ll bet the oven is gentler. Great idea! The sauce was delicious. I wish I’d planned to have some sopping bread.

    Reply
  3. Happy you liked it! And yes, when I realized few could get chicken blood, I went with the more available cocoa powder : )

    @Mr. Neil: Yes, it’s hard to find a proper coq (rooster) although they’re HUGE, so it makes quite a bit of coq au vin. But most chicken’s will work splendidly for this dish.

    Reply
    • Thank goodness! My dedication to cooking through your book only goes so far… (no chicken blood for me!). I do need to try this at some point with a real rooster – but when I need to feed a bunch of people!

      Reply
  4. I thought about putting mine in the oven! I usually do with my other go-to recipe. Looks beautiful, as always, Mardi, and I’m glad that you all were able to enjoy the leftovers for so long. I’m going to keep your idea in mind about not adding back in all the marinade. I was really not excited by how soupy it was.

    Reply
  5. I agree that using the oven would be much simpler. As for the blood, ugh, but growing up my
    mother who came from France, used to eat blood sausage and head cheese. Two of the most
    gross things around. Fortunately, she never made us try it.

    Reply
  6. This is on my list from David’s book. Unfortunately I will have to wait for cooler weather We are having a heatwave here downunder, and I am reducing the time I have the oven on, but come Autumn(Fall) this recipe will be a one of the first. It looks delicious.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Mardi Michels Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.