“Coq au Vin” is French for “chicken with wine,” and it’s a great meal for being in quarantine. It involves several steps so it takes a little longer to make, which is perfect when you have nothing but time! It smells wonderful, it tastes delicious, and it looks beautiful, so it’s sure to impress whoever you’re cooking for. (Even if you’re only cooking for yourself!)

This cooks in a Dutch oven, which is a cast iron pot with a lid, but if you don’t have one a large pot will do just fine. The traditional recipe also calls for some ingredients that I couldn’t find during quarantine, so I made a few substitutions. I’ll list the traditional ingredients, and then tell you what I substituted. Here’s what you’ll need:

• chicken with skin on and bone in – I used chicken thighs because dark meat holds all the flavors in well
• 1 bottle red wine
• 1 pint mushrooms (I left these out because my kids don’t eat mushrooms)
• 1 bag frozen pearl onions (I couldn’t find the pearl onions in store so I used a yellow onion chopped up – the little pearl onions look very pretty in this dish though if you are able to find some)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1-2 tbs herbs de provence (This is a French seasoning that includes rosemary, oregano, thyme, lavender, etc – I was out of it, so I used Italian seasoning instead, along with a little Tony’s seasoning since I put that on everything!)
• salt and pepper
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme (I actually did have this in my herb garden, but they also sell it in the produce section of grocery store)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 slices bacon
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 cups flour

Start by heating the olive oil in Dutch oven (or large pot) on medium heat, then add the bacon and cook until crisp. When the bacon is done cooking, remove it to a plate and set aside.

Season the flour with salt and pepper, then dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mixture and brown on both sides in the bacon drippings. The chicken will finish cooking later, so you only need to cook it about 5 minutes on each side, just long enough to give it some color and crispness.

I used a large pack of 12 chicken thighs, so I had to brown them in 2 batches. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside after browning.

Add in the onions, garlic and thyme and saute a few minutes until tender, scraping the bottom of pot to mix in the bacon and chicken drippings. You can also add a little more salt and pepper now if you’d like. If you’re using mushrooms, this is when they go in too.

Once the vegetables are tender, add the chicken and bacon back in, along with the chicken stock and whatever spices you are using.

Now add the entire bottle of red wine. Bring it to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low and simmer about 20-30 minutes until the chicken is cooked all the way through. The alcohol will cook out, leaving just the color and flavor from the wine. Leave the lid to pot or Dutch oven slightly off to allow the steam to escape.

You can also add carrots or celery if you’d like, or any other vegetable you have on hand.

If you’re a fan of Grey’s Anatomy, you may remember an old scene where Mark made “coq au vin” and Callie dumped it in the trash because she had brought pizza home for her and Arizona. I’ve always thought that if Callie knew how much trouble it was to make this dish that she wouldn’t have thrown it away!

This chicken comes out with a deep color from braising in the wine, and a whole lot of flavor. So if you’re looking for something fancy to cook while on quarantine, I hope you’ll give this a try!

Thanks y’all!

– Nikki