Classic French chicken braised with wine, mushrooms, and aromatic vegetables.

Coq au Vin (French Braised Chicken with Wine)

By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime

It’s time for the #FantasticalFoodFight hosted by Sarah Ellis and  the topic at hand is Julia Child’s birthday, so we were to share a recipe either that is from Julia, or inspired by her.

I chose to be inspired  with Coq au Vin, the classic French braised dish which means literally “rooster with wine”.

So  how does one tell if one has a boy or a girl  without going into the Jurassic Park paddock and lifting up the skirt on the dino? I mean, if someone were peeking under my tutu, I’d be a bit miffed.

Generally speaking, when raising poultry, the girls go into egg production and the boys, well, they leave the farm early and become fryers. Later on,  when the egg production declines on the older   girls, their fat little fannies become stewing hens or roasters. It’s a sad end for the boys,  but there only needs to be one  rooster ruling the roost, as they say.

One rooster to another:

“This town ain’t big enough  for the both of us, cowboy, so make like a banana and split!  And I will see ya’ Fryday! “

And I will say “inspired” by Julia Child because although  the general recipe by differing chefs  has similar ingredients,   such as chicken (obviously), bacon lardons, cooking fat, cognac or brandy, salt, pepper, bay laurel, thyme, small onions, garlic, red wine, chicken stock, tomato product, mushrooms and beurre manie (thickener of equal parts  butter and flour combined until smooth), there are a number of variations on even this.

And  if you scope out my ingredients, you can see I just went  my own way. You can thicken the sauce (if you like) but I just cooked it, laid  it out over noodles and put the amount of sauce I wanted on it.

I’d like to say that when I think of Coq au Vin I immediately think of Julia, but I don’t. As celebrities go, I think of Alexander Skarsgård (the actor who played Eric Northman on the tv show True Blood) (The vampire  who owned the nightclub). I am always surprised to have read that he enjoys cooking a great deal, and admitted  that his favorite thing to cook was coq au vin. And that struck me. I guess I was impressed that he had the time to cook at all with long hours on  the set filming. He even shops for his own groceries without sending an assistant out to do it. #moreimpressed

I wonder if he cooks like me,  running everyone out of my itty bitty room-for-only-one kitchen, telling everyone to keep their hands off the food until I have both cooked it (and photographed it?) 😉

But anyway, it is Julia’s birthday after all, and she would have been 106. So let’s all  give her warm wishes on  her day  for all   the  enjoyment and knowledge she brought to us.  Happy Birthday Julia! And Bon Appetit!

#FantasticalFoodFight

August 2018: Julia Child’s Birthday

Be sure to check out the other recipes inspired by Julia Child this month!

Click on the hop link button to be transported to the other recipes:

You Might Also Like:

Bundt  Pan Rotisserie Chicken

Chicken and Asparagus Pasta Bake

Grilled Flank Steak Pinwheels

Chicken Oscar

Crab Stuffed Tilapia with Asparagus and Creamy Curry Sauce