Coq Au Vin

Coq Au Vin (the French dish of chicken cooked in wine) is a fun recipe for the Dutch Oven.  My dad swears he can taste the different between food that was cooked in a Dutch Oven versus a regular stock pot.  So these types of meals tend to go over well with him.

This is a great one-pot meal that I doubled when my whole family was here a while back.  It's pretty quick to prepare and definitely easy to swap ingredients in and out.  My father-in-law took my recipe and adapted it for the crockpot, adding something different each time.

Adapted from Cooking Light

Coq Au Vin

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 bacon slices, chopped
2-3 lbs of chicken, drumsticks, thighs, breasts (a whole cut-up chicken from the grocery store is good)
salt and pepper to taste
1  1/2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
1  1/2 cups dry red wine
1 cup chopped carrots
1  1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
pinch of thyme, rosemary, or Italian seasoning
4 teaspoons tomato paste

2 large shallots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 bag of egg noodles
parmesan cheese for sprinkling, optional
handful chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. 1. Cook bacon in a large Dutch Oven over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 2 minutes or so on each side, browning the skin. Dump in the shallots, mushrooms, carrots, tomato paste, seasoning, wine and broth; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
2. 2. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon; keep warm. 

3.  Cook the egg noodles according to package instructions.

1. 4. Bring cooking liquid of coq au vin to a boil; cook until reduced to 3 cups (about 6 minutes). Return chicken to pan; cook a couple minutes until chicken is hot again. 
2. 5.  Sprinkle with fresh parsley and parmesan cheese and serve over egg noodles.  Enjoy!