One-Pan Coq Au Vin Inspired by Julia Child

Today, we'll be making a classic Chicken Coq Au Vin with a little inspiration from Julia Child. This French dish is a great one-pan dinner that makes enough food to feed all your friends/family. The recipe is below:

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Ingredients:
3-4 ounces bacon (slab preferred, strips work just fine) cut into small chunks
2-3 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks
1 handful parsley, chopped
1 lb Bella mushrooms, cut into quarters
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 lb pearl onions, peeled with ends removed
1-2 sprigs fresh thyme
1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp Brandy
1/2 bottle (375 mL) French red wine
2 cups chicken stock
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
Salt
Black Pepper

Directions:
1. Start by prepping your parsley, garlic, mushrooms, and pearl onions. Make sure to wash your mushrooms so you don’t have any dirt in the food. Regarding the pearl onions, I cannot lie, these are not fun to prep but the best way is to cut the ends off and unwrap the outside. For some extra flavor, I like to tie some springs of rosemary, thyme, and a bay leaf with some kitchen twine.

2. For the protein, take your bacon cut it into small chunks, and set aside. It would be best if you could get the full slab of bacon, but I could only find strips and they work just fine. For the star of the show, the Chicken, use about 3lbs of bone in, skin on chicken thighs and drumsticks. We want the skin as this is going to have plenty of flavor. Scour the top of the thigh skin and season with some kosher salt and black pepper

3. This is a one-pan meal so we’re going to want to take a high-walled pan, add in 2 Tbsp of butter, and then the bacon. Cook the bacon on medium heat for a few minutes until the bacon has browned. Once this is completed, remove it from the pan and place it into a separate bowl. Now in the bacon fat, add your chicken skin side down and cook for a few minutes on the first side until brown, then flip and cook for another few minutes. Remove the chicken to a separate plate. No worries about whether the chicken is fully cooked, as we are going to finish cooking it to temperature in the broth/sauce later.

4. Cool your pan for a few minutes before adding 2 Tbsp of butter and adding your onions and mushrooms. Season with some salt and pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes until they have developed some color. Then add in your minced garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Once finished, add in the tomato paste and cook for a minute or two so the raw flavor is gone. After that, deglaze with 3 Tbsp of a nice brandy, and cook until the alcohol has burned off. Now add in your wine, chicken stock, and your bunch of herbs, and bring to a simmer

5. Carefully return your chicken to the pan and try to make sure the chicken is mostly covered by the liquid. Cover and simmer the sauce/chicken for about 30 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked through. Now remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. We need to reduce the sauce so Julia Child states to simmer on high until we have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce remaining. Once finished, you can add 2 additional Tbsp of butter and mix until fully combined. Then add 3 Tbsp of flour, whisk until fully combined, and season to taste with some kosher salt and black pepper

6. Return the chicken to the sauce and simmer for about 5 minutes until the chicken is warm again. Cover the chicken with the sauce and once finished, remove from heat. Sprinkle with some more chopped parsley and you are ready to serve

7. For plating, I like to have my Coq Au Vin over some garlic mashed potatoes so I’m adding a few spoonfuls of that and placing a chicken thigh and drumstick over top. I’m covering with some extra sauce and sprinkling additional parsley and you are ready to eat!