A one pot, delicious take on the french classic
SERVES: 4
PREP TIME: 25 mins
COOKING TIME: 1 hr
DIFFICULTY: easy
IDEAL FOR: midweek meal, family, crowd
BUDGET: £
Coq au vin blanc.
You may have noticed I’m on a bit of a coq au vin mission with this being the 2nd one I’ve cooked recently.
But I spotted this new tweak in the Delicious magazine (one of my favourite mags).
And as we’re in for another 3 week lockdown, I have time to try different versions.
Out of my cooking comfort zone
I thought I’d get out of my cooking comfort zone during lockdown.
And share the joy of cooking with others.
Try and utilise technology and reach out through the laptop lens to other fledgling cooks.
Enter…
The Teenager.
My oldest friend’s son was my guinea pig.
He was up for learning to cook my ‘cheats lasagne’.
Lock down-cooking with technology
I set up my laptop in the kitchen and we dialled in.
A part from him looking directly up my nose…
(my laptop camera is oddly at the bottom of my screen not the top)
And looking like I was about to have a stroke
(my laptop also makes my face a lot redder than it actually is)
And a part from the laptop mic being so useless I was shouting at the screen (poor kid)
… we cracked on.
It went pretty smoothly, although lifting up the laptop to show him what I was doing was a little challenging.
But all and all, it was a success.
My fledgling cook, whipped up a lovely meal for his family and learnt some skills.
And I was delighted to hear he cooked another lasagne later that week.
Result.
Upping the game; coq au vin blanc
Fast forward a week and we were going to do Coq au vin blanc.
Ambitious for a teenager to undertake?
Maybe.
But who wouldn’t want to say they can cook a ‘coq au vin blanc’?!
This time I was more prepared.
A new webcam meant less up-the-nose-teaching and thankfully my face was at its normal colour.
Oh, and I sorted the mic issue with a bluetooth headset.
I did look a bit of a dick wearing it (sorry but that’s the best description).
But at least I wasn’t shouting.
Coq au vin blanc
What’s great about coq au vin blanc or any version of it?
The simplicity of it.
And it packs amazing flavour, looks impressive to serve up and there isn’t a lot of faffing.
One pot and you’re away.
In a nutshell (for this recipe); chicken (with skin on), leeks, mushrooms, bacon (lardons)… and new potatoes.
You…
- Cook off the bacon to get all that lovely bacon flavour,
- Brown off the chicken pieces,
- Gently fry the leeks and mushrooms,
- Stir a bit of flour, return the chicken and bacon, add your potatoes, your wine, stock,
- Leave to simmer away on your stove for an hour.
And hey presto, coq au vin blanc for the family.
The final flourish
An extra touch or as I explain to my fledgling cook… the final ‘flourish’.
Before serving, take the chicken, potatoes, veg out and place onto a large, warm serving dish.
Turn the heat up a little on the stove and reduce the liquid a bit so it’s a little thicker.
Then add in a few tablespoons of crème fraiche, stir and pour over your chicken on the serving dish.
Sprinkle some chopped parsley and I defy any family member for not being impressed by this dish.
Or, the non-flourish alternative
My family are impatient when I cook so instead of removing all the food onto a serving dish as above.
I just took the chicken out, reduce the liquid a little, stirred in the crème fraiche and then placed the chicken back in the casserole dish to serve.
It’s not as pretty but when hungry mouths need feeding and less dishes need using, it’s a winner.
Here’s a pic of The Teenagers coq au vin blanc.
I think he did a spectacular job!
Do you have teenagers that would take the opportunity to learn to cook?
If you have any pics of their creations, drop me a line.
Coq au vin blanc
Equipment
- Casserole dish
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 125 g smoked lardons (or streaky bacon is fine)
- 1.3 kg chicken thighs, legs with skin on (I used 5 pieces)
- 2 leeks (trimmed and chopped approx 1-2 cm)
- 250 g mushrooms (whole or halved depending on what you use)
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tbsp flour
- 300 ml white wine
- 350 g new potatoes, halved
- large sprig of thyme
- 500 ml hot chicken stock (or enough to cover the chicken and potatoes)
- 3 tbsp creme fraiche
- chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In your large casserole dish, add some oil and gently fry the bacon/lardons so the fat renders a little, then turn the heat a bit so you brown the bacon. Set aside.
- Add another tablespoon of oil and brown your chicken pieces until golden. Set aside with your bacon.
- Now, gently fry your leeks until softened (approx 10mins), then turn the heat up to medium-high and add the mushrooms. Cook until softened and your leeks are a bit golden. Lastly, add in your garlic and cook for approx 1min.
- Stir in your flour and cook for 1min then gradually pour in your wine and using a wooden spoon scrape off the brown bits on the bottom (i.e. deglace the pan).Now return your bacon and chicken and add the thyme and potatoes.Lastly, pour over the hot stock so it just covers the chicken and season with salt and pepper.Bring to the boil, place the lid on and simmer for 1 hour (maybe 1.5hr)
- Remove the chicken, bacon and vegetables onto a large warm serving dish.Now, turn the casserole dish back onto a high heat to reduce the liquid a little until it thicker. Add 3 tablespoons of creme fraiche, stir in.Pour the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle chopped parsley to garnish.
- NOTE: as per my blog post, I did the 'non-flourish' version. The means removing the chicken only, reducing the liquid as above, adding the creme fraiche and then putting the chicken back into the casserole dish to serve… with a sprinkle of chopped parsley for garnish if you like 😉It's less pretty but for a family meal and hungry mouths it saves on time and dishes 🙂
I’m linking this to CookBlogShare
