Feeling Trendy

I've always made coq au vin with red wine.  I'm not a cooking renegade, so I've always made it the traditional way, or what I thought was the traditional way.  And that was with red wine.

Well, so much for that.

Lately, coq au vine jaune has been just about everywhere.  Is it because substituting a full bodied white wine for the tried and true red is new and trendy?  Or is this just the best kept secret, from me anyway, ever?

After a little research session with my close friend Google, it turns out that coq au jaune has been around in different incarnations for some time.  Not forever, but regional French chefs have, for years and years, been playing with different wine pairings in coq au vin.

Where the hell have I been?

In my defense, and I have kids so I've got a lot of experience defending myself and my lack of cool, despite being a tried and true version of coq au vin, coq au vin jaune has been gaining in popularity of late.  So, actually if you think about it, I'm actually with trend by blogging about it now.

True, it would have been more impressive had I caught on to this particular trend at the beginning, but I'm a 55 year old woman living in Pittsburgh.  I have no other defense.

So, on to the recipe.  It's divine.  So good.  So satisfying.  The really nice thing about this recipe is that it's a little lighter than its red wine counterpart.  It's still rich and delicious, but not quite as heavy.

This is not a recipe you're going to throw together in 15 minutes.  It takes time.  Don't skip steps or shorten up the recommended timing.  Cooking the stew slowly is what produces the deliciously tender chicken and the rich and velvety sauce.  It will seem, at the beginning, and even towards the middle of the cooking time, that you have a lot of liquid.  Be patient.  It will develop into a sauce roughly the consistency of half and half, perfect for spooning over noodles or rice.

Take your time and revel in your (almost) trendiness.  I did.

Recipe:  Coq au Vin Jaune
Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2015

Total Time: 2 hours Serves: 5-7

Ingredients:

½ cup all-purpose flour
1 (6-pound) capon, cut into 8 pieces, or 6 pounds chicken thighs and/or breasts
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 tablespoons clarified unsalted butter
1 large onion, finely minced
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4½ cups Vin Jaune or other big, rich white wine, such as Riesling
1½ pounds white button mushrooms, thickly sliced
3 ounces dried morels, soaked in warm water at least 30 minutes, soaking liquid reserved
⅔ cup crème fraîche or sour cream
2½ cups chicken stock or water, as needed
Freshly squeezed lemon juice, as needed
Sherry vinegar, as needed
Chopped fresh parsley and/or chives, for garnish
Cooked, buttered noodles or rice, for serving

Directions:

Place flour in a large Ziploc bag. Add chicken, seal bag and shake to coat chicken in flour on all sides. Remove chicken from bag, shaking off excess flour, and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Heat half the clarified butter in a large lidded Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once hot, cook chicken pieces, working in batches if necessary, until lightly browned, 5-10 minutes per side. Add onions and garlic, and cook, stirring, until beginning to soften, 2-3 minutes. Deglaze pan with ⅓ cup of wine, scraping up brown bits from bottom. With all chicken pieces in pan, cover, place in oven and cook 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat remaining clarified butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once melted, add button mushrooms, and sauté, tossing frequently, until very tender and slightly caramelized, about 15 minutes. Set aside.

Remove chicken from oven and add all but ½ cup of remaining wine to pan. Place on stove over medium-low heat and simmer to marry flavors and let some alcohol evaporate, 10 minutes. Add morels and soaking liquid to pot. Simmer, stirring frequently, 20 minutes more.

Stir crème fraîche into pot along with sautéed button mushrooms and simmer until chicken is very tender, 30 minutes more. Sauce should be just thick enough to coat a spoon, similar to half-and-half. If too thick, stir in remaining wine, then stock or water, ¼ cup at a time, to reach desired consistency. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice or vinegar, as needed.

Garnish with herbs, if using, and serve with noodles or rice.