Coq au Vin

In learning how to appreicate wine I thought it would also be good to learn how to cook with it. So the other day I decided to make Coq au vin, a french dish with red wine, chicken and mushrooms. The dish had lots of flavour and both David and I really enjoyed it! I think I will try to cook with wine at least once every 2 weeks.

Here's the recipe:

Coq au Vin

Ingredients
1/2 lb bacon slices
1 large yellow onion sliced or 20 pearl onions, peeled
1 chicken, 4 lb, cut into serving pieces, or 3 lbs chicken parts, excess fat trimmed, skin ON
6 garlic cloves, peeled
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups red wine (pinot noir, burgundy, or cabernet sav)
2 bay leaves
Several fresh thyme sprigs
Several fresh parsley sprigs
1/2 lb mushrooms, trimmed and roughly chopped
2 Tbsp butter
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Method
1 Blanch the bacon to remove some of its saltiness. Drop the bacon into a saucepan of cold water, covered by a couple of inches. Bring to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes, drain. Rinse in cold water, pat dry with paper towels. Cut the bacon into 1 inch by 1/4 inch pieces.

2 Brown bacon on medium high heat in a large pan big enough to hold the chicken, about 10 minutes. Remove the cooked bacon, set aside. Keep the bacon fat in the pan. Add onions and chicken, skin side down. Brown the chicken well, on all sides, about 10 minutes. Halfway through the browning, add the garlic and sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. (Note: it is best to add salt while cooking, not just at the very end. It brings out the flavor of the chicken.)

3 Spoon off any excess fat. Add the chicken stock, wine, and herbs. Add back the bacon. Lower heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until chicken is tender and cooked through. Remove chicken and onions to a separate platter. Remove the bay leaves, herb sprigs, garlic, and discard.

4 Add mushrooms to the remaining liquid and turn the heat to high (I added 2 tsp of corn starch). Boil quickly and reduce the liquid by three fourths until it becomes thick and saucy. Lower the heat, stir in the butter. Return the chicken and onions to the pan to reheat and coat with sauce. Adjust seasoning and let simmer until ready to eat.

Serves 4. I served it over mashed potatoes, would be great with any veggie side as well.

A Trip to Bordeaux

In the summer of 2007 we went backpacking through Europe for 6 weeks. It was an awesome experience to have as a couple! In our travels we went to Bordeaux, France. What a lovely city and place to spend a couple of days. In thinking about my journey with wine, I would say this is where it really all began for me. At this point David had finished just over a year of first year science classes with the intention of applying to get into the program in September 2008 (which he did). So it's time to embrace the idea of wine and try it for myself. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like it, it's just that I don't love it. I enjoy cooking with it and having a glass on occasion.

Here we are in Bordeaux with our super cheap bottles of wine


While in Bordeaux, we took a bus ride to visit the town of St. Emillion. This was a super cute little town famous for its wine and macaroons. Odd combo, I know. Anyways, not that David is working on his degree I have read about the town in several of his books, I never realized how significant it is as a part of the Bordeaux wine region.

One of my first experiences doing a wine tasting. There were huge underground wine cellars, very cool!

Earliest Memories

I never grew up in a house where wine or alcohol was ever present. I'm not sure why that was exactly, it was just the way it was. My earliest and really only memory of wine is at my Oma and Opa's house. Everyone in my extended family knows that my Opa has a glass of wine before bed. He claims it's for his health.

I remember once when I was staying over at my Oma and Opa's for the night with my cousin Tim, we decided to see what this 'wine' was all about anyways. We were sleeping in the basement, which is near the cellar where the wine is kept. So once it seemed pretty quiet upstairs we headed into the cellar to have a sip of Opas wine. Perhaps, that's why I don't love wine today. My earliest memory of wine was actually pretty terrible.

The beginning of the Journey

So here I am living in Ontario as my husband, David, is going to school to become a professional wine maker. He's actually in the oenology/ viticulture co op program at Brock, but nobody knows what that means, so we'll say that he's learning how to make wine and grow grapes.

I've never really loved wine; I've never really loved alcohol actually. I know that may sound a little strange. It seems that almost everyone loves some kind of alcohol. Therefore in order to support my husband, who I love dearly, and not seem like the complete idiot that I am when it comes to wine I have decided to go on a quest. My goals are to learn to love and appreciate wine. Even if I never LOVE the way it tastes, I hope that I will at least gain a greater understanding of what goes into a good bottle. Knowing that I will most likely be living in a 'wine world' from now on I think that it is due time for me to start figuring the whole wine thing out.

I figure that with a husband telling me countless facts and information about grapes and wine, not to mention wine books and magazines lying all over our house, surely it can't be that hard for me to pick up a few things.

Thinking about blogging, I think it would be neat to look back a year, or two or more down the road and see what I've learned and how I've grown in the world of wine. Only time will tell.