Like I mentioned in my "White Chili" post, I've been feeding the Missus and Her co-workers when She has to work on weekends. But there's just so much I can make before I hit the wall. I was wracking my grey matter trying to determine what to make….but while staring at some chicken legs, going for 49 cents a pound, I thought why not doa version of Coq Au Vin, the French chicken fricassee cooked in wine? When I told the Missus, She appeared skeptical, "isn't that French?"
Just keeping things fun, I decided to make this pretty much on the cheap. Not that Coq Au Vin is a fancy-schmansy dish mind you. After all, Coq Au Vin was originally a recipe that marked, ummm, the permanent retirement of a rooster. The chicken was just under 2 bucks, the pearl onions, just under 2 bucks…. the wine? You guessed it, 2 Buck Chuck….good ol' Charles Shaw. I thought of calling it "Chuck Au Vin", but that would've been a bit repetitive, right?
I'd made Coq Au Vin before, but looked for additional inspiration from various cookbooks I had lying around. And boy did the recipes differ! Anthony Bourdain's recipe in the Les Halles Cookbook
After reducing the wine and sauce, I added a little twist of my own. I added a tablespoon of Demi Glace along with some butter to fortify the sauce. I thought it turned out well, considering. I made buttered egg noodles just to cover my bases. It was also pretty quick, clocking in at a total of 40 minutes prep, one-and-half hours simmer.
Sorta Coq Au Vin
3-4 lbs Chicken parts rinsed and dried
1/2 lb small white mushrooms
1/2 lb Pearl Onions
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 carrots roughly chopped
1 medium onion roughly chopped
2 ribs celery roughly chopped
1/4 lb Bacon sliced crosswise (lardon)
1 Bottle red wine
1-2 Cups chicken stock (optional)
2 Tb Butter
1 Tb Veal Demi Glace (optional)
2 Bays Leaves
3 sprigs Thyme
1/2 Cup flour
Salt and Pepper
1-2 Tb Olive Oil
– Bring a pot of water to a boil. Chop root ends off of pearl onions. Place into boiling water for 1 minute. Allow onions to cool. You'll be able to pop those pearl onions out of their skin.
– Place chicken parts in a gallon ziploc bag. Add flour and shake to coat.Remove chicken from bag to a plate, shaking off excess flour.
– Brown bacon in a Dutch Oven or similar pot. When bacon 
is browned, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon.
– In the same pot, add pearl onions,add salt and pepper, and saute until slightly browned. Remove onions.
– Add olive oil if necessary, and brown chicken, working in batches. Remove the chicken when browned.
– Add 1 tablespoon of butter, and saute the mushrooms. Remove the mushrooms and set aside.
– Pour off excess fat, and add garlic, celery, onions, and carrots, and saute until vegetables are soft. Deglaze with 1 cup of the red wine, making sure to scrape up all those nice brown bits.
– Add the rest of the red wine, bay leaf, and thyme, and bring to a simmer.
– Add chicken back to pot and simmer; turning every 10-15 minutes until the chicken is done.
– When the chicken is cooked, remove from the pot, and strain cooking liquid.
– Pour strained liquid back into the pot and taste. Add chicken stock, salt and pepper if necessary.
– Reduce liquid by half. You may want to thicken with a classic Beurre Manie (a paste made with 1 tb each butter and flour made into a paste), or be like me and just add butter. I also added the Demi Glace because I had some.
– When sauce is thickened, add pearl onions and mushrooms back (and bacon if desired), and heat.
There you go Half Coq'd Au Vin
Serve with egg noodles.