Coq Au Vin Rouge

Description:

This recipe is for those of you that prefer the traditional red wine version of this classic dish. I prefer to use a more fruit-forward wine, such as a merlot, shiraz, or a red zinfandel.

Ingredients:

Whole roaster chicken, cut into pieces
6 slices thick bacon
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb white button mushrooms (quartered)
10 oz frozen baby or pearl onions
2 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brandy
1 bottle dry red wine
4 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions:

Cut chicken into pieces and rub with fresh garlic, ground pepper, and sea salt. Then put in food storage bag with entire bottle of red wine. Set bag on a large bowl and place in refrigerator overnight.

In a large pan on high heat, cook bacon until crispy, extracting all grease. Remove bacon and reserve all but 1 tablespoon of fat for frying the chicken. Save remaining oil to add as necessary.

Salt and pepper chicken, then roll in flour.

Add one tablespoon of olive oil to heated pan with bacon grease.

Brown the chicken on all sides until golden brown. As you add and remove chicken pieces, add equal parts of bacon grease and olive oil to keep pan fully coated with grease.

Place all chicken in a large pot with lid (Dutch oven), starting with the dark meat (thighs and legs) on the bottom. Set pot on stove with high heat. After 5 minutes, pour brandy over chicken, cover pan, and cook one minute.

For the next step, it is important to make sure your hood fan is off and have a fully wetted dish cloth nearby. The dish cloth needs to be larger than the pot surface. You will remove the lid, and using a lighter, ignite the brandy soaked chicken. If flames get too large, you can place lid on pot or cover with wet dish cloth.

When flames disappear, add left over wine from marinade, chicken broth, and garlic to the pot; cover and cook for one hour.

In a separate pan, use the remaining bacon fat to brown the mushrooms (3-5 minutes). Then add onions and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add parsley and 1 teaspoon of crushed pepper and mix thoroughly.

Pour mushroom and onion mix into pot with chicken, add tomato paste, remove lid, and cook for 20 minutes until sauce thickens.