Coq Au Vin for 2

Last night, Chris and I decided to stay home and have a date night in, especially since we have been so busy with work lately and haven't been cooking as much as we'd like. With the cold weather outside, we were looking for something hearty and satisfying. And what's more satisfying than a good coq au vin?

We started with Julia Child's recipe, but tweaked it a bit (see: used a lot less butter).

Coq Au Vin for 2
adapted from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking

2 bone-in chicken breasts
4 slices thick-cut bacon
1 tbs butter
Salt and pepper
2 cups red wine (Pinot Noir, Burgundy, Beaujolais or Chianti)
2 cups homemade chicken stock or low-sodium chicken stock or broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, mashed or minced
1/2 tsp italian seasoning

1 tbs butter
1/2 large white onion
1 carton white mushrooms

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, softened
Flat-leaf Parsley sprigs

Preparation

Dry chicken thoroughly in a towel. Season chicken with salt and pepper; set aside.

Remove any rind off the bacon and cut the bacon into lardons (rectangles 1/4-inch across and 1-inch long). In a large saucepan, simmer the bacon lardons in 1 tbs butter until browned and crisp. Remove lardons from pan and set aside on a paper towel.

Place chicken pieces into the hot oil (not crowding pan), and brown on all sides.



While the chicken is browning, melt 1 tbs butter in a non-stick pan, and add the onions to begin browning.



When the onions are wilted and begin to brown, add the cut up mushrooms and sautee.



When the mushrooms and onions are sauteed, turn off the heat and set aside.

Once the chicken is browned, return bacon to the pan, cover pan, and cook slowly for 4 minutes, turning chicken once.

After browning the chicken, pour the red wine into the pan and add just enough chicken broth to mostly or completely cover the chicken pieces. Stir in tomato paste, garlic, italian seasoning, and sauteed mushroom/onion mixture.



Bring the liquid to a simmer, then cover pan, and simmer slowly for about 30 minutes or until the chicken meat is tender when pierced with a fork or an instant-read meat thermometer registers an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.



When the chicken is done cooking, remove from the pan to a platter, leaving the cooking liquid in the pan. Increase heat to high and boil the cooking liquid rapidly until approximately 2 cups of liquid remains.

While the liquid is boiling, in a small bowl, blend the 3 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons softened butter into a smooth paste; beat the flour/butter mixture into the approximately 2 cups hot cooking liquid with a whisk. Simmer and stir for a minute or two until the sauce has thickened (the result will be a sauce thick enough to lightly coat a spoon - just thick enough to coat the chicken and vegetables lightly). If sauce is too thin, boil down rapidly to concentrate; if sauce is too thick, thin out with additional spoonfuls of chicken stock. Taste the final sauce, adding more salt and pepper if necessary.

Plate chicken with pasta and spoon sauce on top.



And in the words of Julia, bon appetit!

Pretty Sliced Potato Dish

One of my favorite food bloggers is Smitten Kitchen, and largely because of her amazing food photography. She could make a simple pb&j look like the most scrumptious lunch you could possibly imagine.

When I first saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it, soon. It's just too beautiful to pass up!

Crispy Potato Roast
adapted from smitten kitchen

2 tablespoons salted or unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt
Pepper
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled (smaller diameter potatoes are great, if you can find them)
2 shallots, diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Slice the potatoes using a mandolin into thin slices. If you don't have a mandolin, just use a sharp knife to create the thinnest potato slices you can.

In a small bowl, combine the oil and melted butter. Pour about 1 tbs of the mixture into the bottom of a 1-1.5 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle a little salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes into the dish as well. Then arrange your potato slices vertically around the dish.

Slide the diced shallots and chopped garlic between the slices of potato and all throughout the dish, distributing as evenly as possible. Brush remaining oil/butter mixture and sprinkle with more salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.



Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and cook for another 45 minutes, or until potatoes are crispy on top and cooked throughout.



This pretty dish would impress anyone at your Thanksgiving table this year, and is a surprisingly simple side dish to make!