Coq au Vin

A recipe I've made many times before - it feels like there's a lot to do here but the truth is, it's the combination of the flavours that makes this dish - not the exacting method. You could pretty much literally bung everything in to the slow cooker and it would still come out tasting divine!

However, this is my preferred way of making coq au vin... I really hope you'll try it! Trust me, it's one you'll cook time and time again.

N.B. It's often much cheaper to buy a whole chicken, rather than the pre-cut packs) and cut it into 6 or 8 yourself (there's plenty of youtube tutorials on how to do this - it's definitely worth learning) or, of course you can ask your butcher to do it for you.

What you'll need

Enough for however many you're feeding, I cook for 2 - but this recipe would feed 4-6 easily!

Main ingredients

• 6-8 chicken pieces, skin on, bone in
• Bacon lardons or pancetta, about 200g
• Round shallots, around 8-12

Fresh / Frozen Ingredients

• Mushrooms, about 200g
• Garlic, 3-4 cloves

Store cupboard

• Tomato purée, 2 tbsp
• Olive oil, 1 tbsp
• Bottle of red wine
• Stock, about 500ml
• Fresh or dried thyme
• A bay leaf
• Salt & pepper

What to do

1. On a high heat start by reducing a whole bottle of red wine in a saucepan, this takes about 10 mins, but I haven't timed it exactly so best to go by eye. Once done, just turn off the heat and leave it until you need it later.

2. In a large frying pan or ovenproof casserole pan sear the seasoned chicken in a little olive oil. 3-4 mins on each side. Remove from pan and set aside.

3. In the same pan, crisp up the lardons, then add the shallots and brown these too (I sliced mine in half to reduce the cooking time), add the chopped garlic cook for a minute or so before adding the tomato purée, thyme and bay leaf. Cook for a few more minutes moving everything around in the pan so it doesn't catch on the bottom. Sprinkle in a tbsp of flour (optional, it thickens the sauce a little). 

4. Pour in the stock, red wine reduction and the chicken. Bring to the boil and simmer until chicken's cooked through - About 25 mins. As preferred, I finish mine off in the oven, 160 fan).

Serve with your choice of greens. Some steamed and buttered 'earthy' kale or cavolo nero would be delicious with this. I also had a couple of carrots that needed using up so we had those too.