We gave a little dinner party for our friends Amy and Jesse before a night of playing bridge not long ago, and I made coq au vin using Julia Childs's fantastic recipe. I'd had the urge to use up some of the accumulated red wine in our refrigerator, and the idea of recreating coq au vin got stuck in my head.
The last time I made the recipe, I cut a few corners by using de-boned, skinless chicken thighs and skipping Julia's instructions for sauteeing mushrooms and braising pearl onions. I think I also served the chicken over rice. The chicken and the sauce turned out pretty well then, but it wasn't amazing and Lou was not overwhelmed.
This time around, I followed her directions more closely, and the recipe was incredible. I used chicken legs and thighs on the bone with skin, and I browned the skin by searing the chicken, first skin side down, on very high heat. Then I browned the onions, carrots and herbs before adding the wine and chicken stock to braise in the oven for about a half hour. While the chicken was in the oven, I sauteed the mushrooms in butter and set the pearl onions in a mixture of chicken broth and butter to braise over low heat for about 30 minutes.
When the chicken was done, I strained the cooking liquid and then reduced it down from several cups to about 3/4 cup. Then, I stirred in buerre manie--butter and flour--to make a rich, thick red sauce. I poured the sauce over the chicken and plated the mushrooms and onions with the chicken and sauce on top.
It was, in a word, manifique!
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