Felicity Cloake's recipe for coq au vin

Coq au vin is all the explanation I need for the enduring appeal of French cuisine – a recipe designed to extract maximum results from the bare minimum … if you’re a chicken-keeping, wine-making peasant, that is. For those of us without stringy old birds and unlimited rustic wine to use up, it’s somewhat less thrifty, but perhaps even more of a treat – a classic that’s well worth revisiting.

Prep 10 min
Cook 2 hr
Serves 4

750ml fruity red wine (see step 1)
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 small onion
5 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
1 small bunch fresh thyme
1 tbsp butter
150g unsmoked bacon lardons
2 tbsp plain flour
Salt and black pepper
4 chicken thighs, bone-in
2 chicken legs, bone-in
20 baby onions, or 10 round shallots
20 button mushrooms, or 10 white mushrooms
4 tbsp brandy

1 Start the sauce

Pour the wine (pinot noir or something else fairly light is ideal, though I wouldn’t splash out) into a large saucepan.

Roughly chop the carrot (no need to peel; just wash well) and celery, quarter the onion (again, no need to peel, unless it’s dirty) and squash four of the garlic cloves (again, unpeeled). Add these to the pan with the bay leaf and three-quarters of the thyme.

2 Simmer and reduce by half

Bring the pan to a boil, take note of how much is in there (a pencil mark on a wooden spoon is helpful, or, for a more high-tech solution, take a photo sideways on), then turn down the heat very slightly and leave to simmer until reduced by about half. Pour through a sieve into a heatproof jug, and discard the vegetables and herbs.

3 Fry the lardons

While the wine is reducing, melt the butter in a large, heavy-based casserole dish for which you have a lid over a medium-high heat and, once it has stopped foaming, fry the bacon until golden brown. Lift out with a slotted spoon and set aside. Meanwhile, spread the flour out on a plate and season well.

4 Flour and brown the chicken

Roll the chicken pieces in the flour – you can remove the skin, if you want, but you may then wish to add a little more fat to the pan to make up for it; and, if you prefer, use a whole chicken, jointed, rather than the pieces suggested. Working in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan, brown the chicken well on all sides.

5 Blanch and peel the onions

Boil the kettle, and then, while the chicken is browning, pour boiling water into a bowl and dunk the baby onions (or shallots) in it for 30 seconds. Carefully peel off the onion skins and trim any whiskery bits from the root ends. (This is a fiddly job, but the blanching should at least help to loosen the skins.)

6 Brown the onions

Once the first batch of chicken is browned, set it aside with the bacon, and repeat with the remaining chicken. There should still be a decent amount of fat in the pan from the bacon, but if not, add a little more butter or a dash of oil. Turn down the heat to medium-low, add the peeled baby onions, and cook, turning occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until they start to caramelise.

7 Add the garlic and mushrooms

While the onions are browning, quarter the mushrooms if you’re using the larger white variety; if using baby ones, leave them whole. Peel and finely slice the last clove of garlic. Add both to the onion pan and fry for about five minutes, stirring so the garlic doesn’t catch, then transfer all the contents of the pot to a bowl.

8 Deglaze, then add the chicken

Turn up the heat, pour a splash of the reduced wine into the pot and scrape the base clean. Add the chicken and most of the bacon, reserving a few lardons for later, then pour in the brandy and set it alight. When the flames have gone out, add the remaining wine and thyme leaves, and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer gently for an hour.

9 Finishing touches

Add the onions, mushrooms and garlic, and simmer for 20 minutes more, this time only partially covered. Taste and adjust for seasoning, and serve with potatoes or rice and with the reserved lardons sprinkled on top.

If you’re making this the day before you want to eat, which will improve its flavour, lift the solidified fat off the top before reheating.