Coq Au Vin

Although the San Francisco weather had been very nice in the past few weeks, I was craving for a hearty comfort food over the weekend so I decided to make Coq Au Vin (Rooster in Wine) that I served with Polenta slices top with Parmesan cheese. I used several whole chicken legs from Whole Foods because I was not sure where to get rooster meat and how the texture would turn out. Here is my version of the recipe based on several recipes that I found online.


Ingredients:
10 bacon slices, diced
5 whole chicken legs (thighs and drumsticks), separated
6 garlic cloves, smashed
4 medium sized carrots, diced to bite size
30 pearl onions (I used half a bag of frozen pearl onions)
1 package of button mushrooms (I used quarter crimini mushrooms)
1 bay leaf
several sprigs for thyme
1/2 bottle of red wine (I used a Bordeaux)
2 cups of water or chicken broth
1 tablespoon of corn starch
2 tablespoons of butter
a small bunch of parsley
chili powder
paprika
salt and pepper
sugar

Directions:

• Season the chicken pieces with salt, pepper, chili powder and paprika.
• Fry the bacon until crisp in a large dutch oven over a low medium heat (10 minutes or so), set the bacon bits aside.
• In the same dutch oven used to cook the bacon, brown the chicken pieces over a medium high heat — skin side down first for 3-4 minutes per side and set aside.
  
• Using 2 tablespoons of oil from the bacon and chicken fat, stir fry garlic and carrot until fragrant. Add in the mushrooms and the frozen pearl onions and cook for another 5 minutes or so.
• Add the chicken pieces back into the pan along with thyme sprigs, bay leaf, wine and water/chicken stock. Add enough water until all the chickens pieces and the vegetables are submerged.
  
• Cook until boil, lower the heat to a low medium heat, cover and cook for another 30 minutes.
• In a small bowl, dissolve the corn starch with a quarter cup of the hot broth and pour back into the pan and mix well.
  
• Adjust seasoning by adding sugar, salt and pepper.
• Cook until it boils again and then stir in the butter and chopped parsley carefully.
• Serve with roasted sliced Polenta top with Parmesan cheese (or roasted baby potatoes) and sprinkled with the bacon bits.