There are many versions of this French dish, including a Coq au Riesling from Alsace. This is the version from Burgundy that uses a light red wine from that region. The original dish was intended to make old roosters as tough as cockatoos edible, but it’s a whole lot easier if you start with a good quality chicken.
Feeds 4, needs 2 hours cooking time (mostly in the oven)
Ingredients
- 1kg chicken pieces – wings and Maryland, separate the legs from the thighs
- 400 g of speck or thick bacon
- Half a bottle of light red wine
- Tin of crushed tomatoes
- 2 T of flour
- Chicken stock to suit
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- 4-5 spring onions (keep the green tails for later
- 4 carrots cut into 1 inch chunks
- Two handfuls of Swiss brown mushrooms
- Thyme, Rosemary, lemon zest
- Seasoning, olive oil, butter
The Process
- Roll the chicken pieces in the flour, place in a large frypan with olive oil
- Add garlic and onions, sprinkle with left-over flour
- brown both sides of the chicken
- add speck / bacon, carrots, crushed tomatoes and red wine
- cook for a few minutes, then transfer to a casserole dish
- add enough chicken stock to cover
- add seasoning and stir well
- put the dish in the oven at 170⁰ for an hour and a half
It should pretty much cook itself, but you need to check it after half an hour and adjust liquid and seasoning if needed.
After an hour, fry the sliced mushrooms in a little butter and sprinkle with dried or fresh rosemary and thyme, add the chopped up spring onion tails or shallots, and stir-fry for a couple of minutes before adding to the casserole. Add the lemon zest, then check the dish for taste and liquid level and adjust as needed. Put back in the oven for another half hour, then serve with potatoes, pasta or rice.
Kim